Karnataka to boycott annual BCCI awards, MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture in Bengaluru

The decision to boycott the function has been taken after the Supreme Court-appointed CoA decided to invite only eligible officials of the state units as per the apex court orders.

New Delhi: The Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), which will host the MAK Pataudi Memorial Lecture and the annual BCCI awards on March 8 in Bengaluru, has decided to boycott the event.

It is learnt that the decision to boycott the function has been taken after the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) decided to invite only eligible officials of the state units as per the apex court orders.

As per ESPNcricinfo, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri, had last week, invited state associations for the fifth Pataudi Lecture, to be delivered by former India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer, and the board`s annual awards with the last paragraph saying: "Kindly note that the committee of administrators is constrained to convey that only those office bearers who are qualified as per the Supreme Court orders are expected to attend the function."

In reply, the KSCA on March 3, said it would not even "remotely think" of attending the function, to be held on the last scheduled evening of the second Test between Indian and Australia.

The state body further said it would be a "humiliation to the very cricketing fraternity" to accept the invitation with constraints and restrictions, and also accused the Supreme CoA of showing "prejudice" against "various people who have served the game of cricket over decades".

It is learnt that the letter was signed by KSCA`s current president Sanjay Desai and secretary K Sudhakar.It is the second time in the week that CoA is facing staunch criticism from the state associations.

Many state associations, barring Vidarbha and Tripura, on Thursday, sent the CoA separate letters, saying they would not comply with its directives till they got clarification from the Supreme Court on aspects like eligibility of an office bearer.

On January 30, the apex court had appointed a new four-member BCCI panel of administrators led by Vinod Rai, along with noted historian Ramachandra Guha, managing director of IDFC Limited Vikram Limaye and former captain of the women`s cricket team Diana Edulji as other administrators.

They will function as the new interim bosses of the cricket board and run the day-to-day administration of BCCI till the Justice (retd.) R.M Lodha-led recommendations are fully implemented and elections are held.