COA to approach apex court on Laxman, Ganguly issue

Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman

New Delhi: Seeking clarity on the contentious 'conflict of interest' issue, the Committee of Administrators (COA) on Saturday decided to approach the Supreme Court in the wake of BCCI ethics officer DK Jain ruling that former players like VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly cannot perform multiple cricketing roles.

Keeping the soul of the Lodha reforms in mind - one person one post - former Supreme Court judge Jain last month ruled that ex-India batsman Laxman and former captain Ganguly will have to choose one of the multiples roles they are performing at the moment. After due deliberation in its meeting on Saturday, the COA decided on seeking Supreme Court's guidance on the 'conflict of interest' issue. Laxman is a member of the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), from which he has offered to step down, mentor of IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad and a commentator.

Ganguly, who too is commentating in the World Cup, is a CAC member, Bengal cricket boss and advisor of IPL side Delhi Capitals.

"It has been decided to approach the court to have some clarity. It is becoming increasingly difficult to define conflict of interest. While Justice Jain has simply gone by what is there in the BCCI constitution [one person one post], not allowing former players to commentate is a tad unfair on them," said a senior BCCI official.

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