Now Sports Ministry claims, award circular was sent to BCCI

New Delhi: After making it amply clear that BCCI was left out when various awards nominations were sought from sports bodies, the Sports Ministry has now claimed that it indeed sent a letter to the Indian Cricket Board.

Rahul Bhatnagar, joint secretary of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, in a note circulated to media claimed that BCCI officials were even spoken to on the matter but did not get any nomination from them. In a complete contradiction to Bhatnagar`s claim, according to an earlier ministry release, the proforma applications and circular seeking names for Arjuna, and other important awards, were sent to all NSFs and BCCI`s name did not figure in the list. Since BCCI is not a NSF, they did not get it. BCCI CAO Ratnakar Shetty had also said that they did not receive it this time, although they were getting it regularly in the past. "The Ministry sent letters to all Sports Federations, State Governments, SAI and Sports Promotion Boards on 28th January, 2012 seeking nominations for Arjuna, Dronacharya, Khel Ratna Awards etc by 30 April, 2012 including BCCI. These were duly dispatched to all these organizations/entities including BCCI," Bhatnagar said. "....Apart from that around 20th April, 2012, Under Secretary of the Ministry, Shri SPS Tomar spoke to the various Federations to remind them of the last date ie. 30th April and to send their nominations. He specifically spoke to BCCI office in Mumbai. He was informed by the concerned official in BCCI that they would take the necessary action in this regard. However no nomination has been received from BCCI, while large number of nominations have been received from other Sports Federations," the note read. "Some nominations in respect of Cricket Coaches have also been received from State Governments," Bhatnagar`s note said. PTI