September 25, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 24, 1429

LAHORE, Sept 24: The Federal Secretary for Sports Ashraf Khan has claimed that the decision of taking control of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) by the Federal Sports Ministry was only taken to provide legal cover to the day-to-day dealings of the board till the appointment of its next chairman and there was no ill-intention behind the move.

“The ministry just made the make-shift arrangement as it was not possible to run the cricket board without a chairman as its constitution only gives power to the head,” Ashraf, flanked by PCB Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi, said at a press conference held here on Wednesday.

The meeting between Ashraf and Shafqat was the first one after the ministry made an amendment in the PCB’s constitution to take control over it on Monday. The two officials discussed different modalities to run the board under the new set up. After the amendment, all the operational, administrative and financial affairs will be under the control of the ministry, till the appointment of the new chairman.

The previous PCB chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf had resigned on Aug 18. But the president of Pakistan, as patron of the PCB, could not appoint a new chairman which prompted the ministry to take such a step.

“The ministry’s decision of taking control is not aimed at taking any benefit from the PCB and, in fact, it was taken to give legal cover to all the workings of the national institution,” he said.

When reminded that the ministry could have also used its office to immediately appoint a new chairman of the PCB instead of taking control of the body through any amendment, Ashraf said the federal sports minister was in a better position to answer the question.

The secretary also dispelled the impression that the ministry could start an accountability process in the PCB. “We don’t have the mandate to start any such process, but at the moment we will just ensure a smooth and legal working in the PCB,” he said.

Ashraf said under the new set up, the day to day affairs would be dealt by the PCB while the ministry would only deal with the policy matters. He said after the resignation of the PCB chairman, a constitutional and legal vacuum had been created and no one had the authority to take decisions.

“But now, after the amendment in the constitution, the ministry is empowered to do so,” he said. “At the moment the PCB’s Governing Board and its sub-committees are ineffective, but soon after the appointment of the new chairman, they would be restored automatically.”

Ashraf clarified that according to the PCB’s constitution, only its chairman could convene a meeting of the Governing Board and even its members could only ask the chairman to call a meeting of the Board.

The secretary added that the PCB would allocate ten percent of its budget for promotion of other sports. He said the decision was being taken to improve the declining standards of other sports in the country.