Kathmandu, January 8

The National Sports Council today came up with ad hoc committee to hold elections of the Cricket Association of Nepal within three months.

Former vice-president Ramesh Silwal is the president of the new committee, while former national team skipper Pawan Agrawal — who took part in CAN’s elective general assembly in December last year as a representative from Kalaiya — is the General Secretary. However, the NSC did not give recognition to that AGM which elected Chatur Bahadur Chand as the president.

NSC Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista said the sports governing body formed the body to hold elections of CAN. “We had instructed CEO Bhawana Ghimire to look after day-to-day works after the tenure of the previous committee led by Tanka Angbuhang was over,” said Bista. “As no association can remain in vacuum, we needed a committee to hold fresh elections,” he added. “This committee will hold elections within three months and we believe all the problems in cricket will be resolved after this move.”

The newly-formed committee includes three vice-presidents, one each from three political parties —Rabindra Adhikari (UML parliamentarian), Sailesh Karmacharya (Nepali Congress) and Dipak Saud (UCPN Maoists). Likewise, Purna Lama is the secretary and Bharat KC the treasurer in the committee. Former skipper LB Chhetri, banker Diwakar Paudel, Dr Hari Shankar Shah, entrepreneurs Ritu Singh Vaidya and Nirvana Chaudhary, Ranjit Tamang, Binayak Pokhrel and Suresh Lal Shrestha are the Members. Shrestha also took part in CAN’s elective general assembly in December last year as a representative from Biratnagar.

However, Member Secretary refused to call it a political sharing. “I took consent from the government and political parties but it is not political sharing,” he said. “I was in touch with government and International Cricket Council. “This is a Member Secretary level decision, which I did after taking the consent from the board, and we have taken the permission of government,” he added. “We have also included former captains, players, bankers, lawyers and entrepreneurs in the committee and I think they will be able to find the solution of all the problems.”

Asked about ICC’s probable intervention, Bista said he talked with the ICC before taking the decision. “We were in regular touch with the ICC and we have already sent the list to them,” he added. Bista reiterated his stance over the elected body and said that did not meet procedures. “I came to know about CAN’s elections from media and we were clear that they did not follow the necessary procedures,” he said about the elective general assembly of CAN.

We are not surprised, says Pyakurel

KATHMANDU: Ashok Nath Pyakurel, General Secretary of elected CAN, said they had no choice to knock court doors against NSC’s decision of forming ad hoc committee. “This was expected, so we are not surprised by the move,” Pyakurel said. “They wanted to stop our elective general assembly, did not give recognition to us after elections, handed over the responsibilities to CEO by passing us and tried to interfere in accounts handling,” he said. “This is sad as the NSC’s decision is towards sending CAN back to ad hocism which we ended four years ago in the 60-year-old history of the sport,” he said. “The NSC wants to create instability in cricket and the formation of parallel body will create more problems. No one except for cricket will suffer,” he said. “We will fight for our legitimacy and going to court is the only option we have at the moment,” Pyakurel said, who was surprised by the policy of the government and NSC. “Four years ago, it dissolved CAN for not holding elections and today it used all the weapons to stop our AGM. I wonder in which direction NSC is trying to drive Nepali sports,” he added.

We have asked Mainali to furnish clarification: Bista

KATHMANDU: NSC Member Secretary Keshab Kumar Bista said the sports governing body had asked Binod Mainali to furnish clarification regarding his involvement in the elective general assembly of CAN. Mainali was unanimously elected as senior vice-president from the AGM that NSC tried to stop. “We have already started the action procedures writing him to clarify his involvement in the AGM,” said Bista. “We will decide about the nature of action once we receive his reply. We can go up to sacking him,” added Bista.