The Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Friday sought a written explanation from Kings XI Punjab on the suspended arrest sentence handed to their co-owner Ness Wadia for possession of cannabis in Japan.
It has been learnt that, asof now, the CoA will not hand over the matter to the IPL’s Ethics Commiteecomprising acting president CK Khanna, acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary andtreasurer Anirudh Chaudhry.
Industrialist Wadia wasarrested at an airport in Japan’s Hokkaido for possession of 25gm of bannedsubstance and sentenced to two years of imprisonment, the verdict that had beensuspended for five years.
As per IPL’s Code ofEthics, a franchise may receive sanction if anyone related with the team(player/owner) bring disrepute to the game.
“TheCoA has asked KXIP management to file a written explanation on what all hastranspired. Agreed, the incident has got nothing to do with the league directlybut Wadia’s arrest does create bad optics. Once KXIP file their explanation,the CoA will take a call on what needs to be done next,” a senior BCCIfunctionary privy to Friday’s meeting said.
When asked why the matteris not being handed to office bearers, the senior functionary said, “We nowhave an Ethics Officer in Justice DK Jain. If need be, the matter will behanded over to him and the office bearers can help him if required.”
Among other significantdevelopments, the CoA through amicus curiae PS Narsimha will intimate theSupreme Court that 26 units of BCCI are now fully Lodha compliant and can holdtheir state unit’s elections.
“Out of the 36 BCCI units, there are 26 whichare fully Lodha compliant and we expect a few more to become fully compliant inthe coming days. The report will be submitted to the Supreme Court. The CoA isexpected to appeal to the apex court for an election date. As for the unitsthat will be non-compliant, they will be disqualified from voting at the AGM,”the official said. pti