BCCI shuns NADA

Mumbai: In a stern response to India's anti-doping body National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said that government body has no jurisdiction to conduct dopes tests on Indian cricketers.

In a letter written on November 8 to NADA chief Navin Agarwal, BCCI CEO Rahul Johri made it clear that there is no requirement for NADA to tests its cricketers since the board is not a National Sports Federation (NSF) and its present anti-doping system is robust enough.

“It is relevant to mention here that BCCI is not a National Sports Federation. Accordingly, NADA does not have jurisdiction to conduct dope testing of Indian cricketers in any domestic or international event organised or under the aegis of BCCI,” Johri wrote in the letter.

In light of the aforesaid, there is no requirement for any BCCI official to co-ordinate with NADA for dope testing of Indian cricketers either during competitions or out of completions."

The BCCI response was prepared with instructions from Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators. Besides responding to the NADA chief, Johri also wrote back to the sports secretary, who had approached the BCCI in October to cooperate with NADA.

The Ministry had stated that lack of co-operation from BCCI on the subject may run the risk of NADA not complying with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.

Johri said BCCI's existing anti-doping mechanism is robust enough. "The BCCI already has a robust dope testing mechanism which is employed for both during competitions and out-of- competitions and the testing of samples by IDTM is already being done at WADA accredited laboratory (NDTL) under aegis of the Sports Ministry."

He further claimed that the BCCI is compliant with the WADA Code.“You will appreciate that for analysis and testing of samples, BCCI adheres to the WADA International Standard of Laboratories and the WADA International Standard for Testing and Investigations.

“Accordingly, the BCCI has engaged the services of same expert sample collection agency that is also engaged by the ICC to prove sample collection services viz, International Doping Tests and Management (IDTM).

“The IDTM sends the collected samples for testing to a WADA accredited laboratory viz, National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL), as mandated by WADA. Since the CEO of NDTL is sports secretary, the dope testing for BCCI is conducted under the aegis of the Sports Ministry,” wrote Johri.

He further reasoned that since BCCI is an autonomous body affiliated to the International Cricket Council (ICC), it is only required to operate within the rules and regulations of the ICC.

Pawar slams Lodha panel
Meanwhile, former BCCI president Sharad Pawar alleged that the Lodha Committee report has "definitely destroyed" cricket. That report (by the panel) has definitely destroyed cricket," he told reporters here when asked for his reaction on the panel's recommendations.

Pawar, a veteran cricket administrator, has also served as the chief of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the world governing body of the game.

The committee was formed under retired Supreme Court judge R M Lodha in January 2015 in the wake of the Justice Mukul Mudgal Committee report that called for reforms within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The Mudgal panel had gone into the state of affairs of the BCCI, following the 2013 IPL betting and spot-fixing charges. The Supreme Court had approved the Lodha panel's recommendations, such as 'one state, one vote', 'one member, one post', and fixing an age-cap of 70 years on those occupying BCCI posts.