ISLAMABAD: Follo­wing recent issues bet­ween the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday transferred the affairs of the country’s cricket governing body to the Cabinet Division.

“Prime Minster in terms of rule 3 of the rules of Business 1973, has been pleased to transfer the administrative control of PCB to from IPC to Cabinet Division,” read a notification issued on Monday. “Therefore, the PCB stands transferred to Cabinet Division.”

The notification essentially means that the PCB will not be answerable to IPC ministry and work directly under the Prime Minister Office. PCB’s interim management committee chairman Zaka Ashraf remained in a tussle with the IPC ministry over several issues during his tenure before the board got its first elected chairman in 14 months in Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi earlier this month.

The PCB remains an autonomous body, which operates under its own constitution and also generates funds from its own resources. However, the government after devolution of the sports ministry following the 18th amendment to Constitution of the country to provinces, put the PCB under IPC for coordination with the federal government.

The main role of the IPC ministry was to play a role of bridge between PCB and federal government and coordinate during the various standing committees and also furnish reply on behalf of PCB to parliament and its committees.

The IPC secretary was made a member of PCB’s Board of Governors but sources told Dawn that the Cabinet Division secretary will now be made a member of the BoG.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2024