September 24, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 23, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 23: The federal sports secretary will be visiting the offices of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday to finalise a strategy on the board’s working after its coming under the ministry’s control during the interim arrangements made in the absence of a chairman.

The federal government through a notification on Monday, had seized control of the PCB, till the appointment of the new chairman.

The PCB Chief Operating Officer (COO) Shafqat Naghmi, while talking to reporters here on Tuesday said that the Federal Sports Secretary Ashraf Khan and Joint Secretary Mohammad Anwar Khan would join him in setting the modalities to run the board under the new set up.

“Some matters need to be clarified too after the notification in order to avoid any future issues,” he said.

As per the notification, the PCB has to get approval from the ministry about its operational, administration and financial issues.

The PCB has been running without a chairman since Aug 18 after Dr Nasim Ashraf resigned from the post. Due to his political activities, PCB’s Patron Asif Ali Zardari has so far been unable to appoint a new chairman.

When asked why the ministry had to interfere, forcing the PCB to make an amendment in its constitution, when the matter of appointing a new chairman can be solved any time, Naghmi said that the question can best be answered by the ministry officials. He had the same answer when asked if the ministry had no faith in him.

But he was of the opinion that it all happened due to a fault in PCB constitution, which doesn’t offer an option about who would run the board in case of the chairman’s absence.

Therefore the sports ministry was able to make an amendment to it, allowing itself to take control for an interim period.

The amendment says: “In the event of the acceptance of resignation tendered by the chairman of the PCB or his removal from the said position, as the case may be, all operational and other administrative and financial matters of the board shall be referred to the Ministry of Sports for final decision thereon till a regular chairman is appointed.”

It may be mentioned soon after Dr Nasim Ashraf’s resignation, the Sports Ministry had attempted to impose ad hoc committee to oversee the board’s audit his accounts. But the prime minister rejected the summary of imposing the ad hoc, since a democratic government was in power. But further delay in appointing a chairman allowed the ministry to use another tactic have control over it, eventually.