• Monitoring Committee to assess district bodies’ elections
• Ball is now in ICC court: Pyakurel

Kathmandu, April 19

The Special General Meeting of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) today amended the statute as instructed by the International Cricket Council paving the way to lift the suspension imposed by the world governing body.

CAN had called the SGM to discuss and amend its statute for the second time in a year after the ICC did not approve the previous amendment. The ICC, after consulting with the Nepal Advisory Board, had ordered the CAN to make further changes in the statute as the first amendment was not as per their instructions.

“There were certain reservations from the house but we kept all the issues on hold and decided to adopt the statute unanimously as we wanted to prove that the current executive committee was not the main hindering factor in the long-standing rows,” said CAN General Secretary Ashok Nath Pyakurel. “Hopefully the suspension will now be lifted and we will be able to move ahead smoothly.”

Representatives from 37 district bodies of CAN and executive committee members attended the SGM along with ICC Finance Manager Amar Sheikh and representative from National Sports Council. Earlier, Minister for Youth and Sports Jagat Bahadur Sunar inaugurated the SGM.

The issue of 17 officials of the executive committee was resolved after they agreed to be the members of the Annual General Meeting without having voting rights and automatic rights of becoming candidates in the elections.

The number of members in the Monitoring Committee, nomination of seven representatives by the NSC and Ministry, membership distribution to the players and elections held in district bodies were the other major agendas raised by the ICC.

“The ICC had opposed the nomination of seven representatives by the NSC or Ministry, while we had a reservation regarding the distribution of membership to the cricketers who are not retired,” said Pyakurel.

“We wanted to issue membership to the players only after two years of their retirement but ICC did not agree on that. Still we are of the view that the players should not be allowed to contest in elections or become official at CAN,” he added. “The issue of representatives from NSC or Ministry was dropped without any problem,” he added.

Regarding the elections of the district committees, the SGM has given all rights to the Monitoring Committee. “The Monitoring Committee will assess the membership distribution and election process in all the districts and it can order re-election wherever it is needed,” he added. The Monitoring Committee will have five members — three from ICC and one each from the elected committee and Nepal Advisory Committee. “We have requested the ICC to nominate foreigners in the committee and if that is not possible we need to have independent experts,” he added.

Regarding the writ petition pending at the Supreme Court, Pyakurel reiterated that they would withdraw the case at right time. “We have time and again said that the writ will not stop any process. We will consult our lawyers and withdraw that whenever it is legally and technically suitable,” he added.

“The SGM has agreed on everything in good faith although there were certain reservations on certain points. The ball now is in the ICC court and we are hoping for a positive outcome,” he said.

Asked about the further process, Pyakurel said they would send the amended statute to the NSC for approval. “We cannot do anything without approval. After the NSC’s approval, Monitoring Committee will be formed which will assess the election process in all districts,” he said. “If everything goes as planned, we will have elections in States and the central committee in three months,” he added.

The major controversy in cricket began after the NSC formed the ad hoc committee without giving approval to the elections and the ICC suspended the membership of CAN on April 25, 2016. The elected committee moved the court and The ICC formed the Nepal Advisory Group to prepare the new statute. After the elected committee opposed the idea of new statute, the ICC agreed to amend the existing one and move forward. The controversy stood as the General Assembly of CAN last year failed to pass the statute as suggested by the ICC. After rounds of meetings, the CAN, NAG and ICC reached consensus resulting in the approval of the statute unanimously.