Professional Documents
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Diana To VR 13 Jan
Diana To VR 13 Jan
Diana To VR 13 Jan
Subject: Re: Your interview on Koffee with Karan aired on 6 January 2019
Date: Sunday, 13 January 2019 at 11:10:45 PM India Standard Time
From: DIANA EDULJI
To: Vinod Rai
CC: C K Khanna, Rahul Johri, Indranil Deshmukh, Karina Kripalani, Amitabh Choudhary, Anirudh
Chaudhry
COA can’t be duty bound in selected maTers and that’s what I have been highlighVng all through, that we should
act as per the rules and regulaVons being the new consVtuVon at all Vmes.
Your point of not going against a Supreme Court DirecVon / ConsVtuVon is what I have been Vme and again
warning about as you have acted against the Supreme Court DirecVon/ConsVtuVon in the maTer of Women’s
team Head Coach where a commiTee was appointed inspite of CAC being there and also in the case of sexual
harassment maTer of Rahul Johri, you unilaterally appointed the independent commiTee which is not as per the
ConsVtuVon and I had opposed for that also.
Your point of “your commiTee being 'judge, jury and execuVoner’” is exactly what you followed and did in the
sexual harassment case, which I had opposed and you took the decisions unilaterally.
My point of having a legal view in players maTer was only to take a informed and correct decision. As there is no
provision for appointment of an ad hoc ombudsman as per the new ConsVtuVon we cannot go ahead with that.
As the SC hearing is scheduled for 17th Jan, let the court be informed about this situaVon and let an Ombudsman
be appointed by the court instead of taking a wrong step of appoinVng the ad hoc ombudsman, which is not as
per the new consVtuVon.
Diana.
In the circumstances , please go ahead with your suggestion. You and AS please conduct the
inquiry. I cannot be a party to such an inquiry as I will not go against a Supreme
Court direction/constitution.
Also please note that since you do not want to follow the suggestion of legal to have an 'ad hoc
ombudsman your suggestion runs the risk of your committee being 'judge, jury and
executioner'.
Please go ahead and take it forward. I will keep away and leave it to you.
Regards,
VR
PS. Incidentally,Croatia did not win the recently concluded World Cup. France was the winner.
Page 1 of 14
Dear Mr Rai,
I have gone through the contents of your email and I am lisVng here with my pointers.
1. Legal advise / opinion has been followed whenever they have placed jusVfiable argument.
2. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has not removed the current office bearers as such they are sVll exisVng and
funcVoning. If all are working in the interest of BCCI, what is the harm in taking a collecVve decision in the
interest of BCCI ?
The independent commiTee that was formed by you also recognised them and called them to depose, then I
do not understand why you seem to have a problem with the office bearers advising us in the maTer as they
are sVll a part of the system.
3. Please bare in mind that unilateral decisions taken by just you on crickeVng maTers is also affecVng the team
and damages may be irreparable. This doesn’t support the beTerment of Indian cricket .
4. Yesterday’s decision of suspension was a collecVve decision of the COA and the office bearers.
5. Whenever a suspension takes place it is only sensible that the players in quesVon are not part of the team
and are called back for the enquiry proceedings. Will it be jusVfied to keep them in Australia and bare a
financial burden?
There has been a precedent when Lala Amarnath was sent back from UK. Such strict steps will ensure that no
one henceforth makes such loose talk which are detrimental to the image of Cricketers, Cricket and BCCI at
large.
For your knowledge, in the recently concluded football World Cup a CroaVon player was sent back aoer their
first game on disciplinary grounds, CroaVa went on to win the World Cup.
6. Regarding the CEO, he was cleared by you, not me. If my opinion about the CEO was personal, then the
office bearers, the cricket fraternity would not be poinVng out the same thing.
The views of the fans are important and if you have been following media reports it is quite clear. I agree, if you
keep repeaVng he is cleared that doesn’t make it the truth.
7. There is no delay. We have given them seven days to respond to the noVce sent by us late last night. Then,
why are you now instrucVng that the inquiry must be completed before the 3rd ODI. Are you prejudging the
outcome of this inquiry also?
Diana.
Page 2 of 14
Yesterday we went by legal advise.
I am not aware of any decision to call the players back. I do not remember taking it.
The CEO has been cleared. If anyone has a grievance, as per Hon’ble Supreme Court direcVon, she/he must
go and file a complaint. By repeaVng a personal view, it does not become true.
If we in BCCI are not bothered about delay, then it is beTer to leave the issue and await :
1. Apex Council to be formed and BCCI office bearers joining aoer fresh elecVons as per the
new consVtuVon.
2. An ombudsman being appointed
3. The enquiry then proceeding.
Thus, we can let the interest of the team suffer and the damage may be irreparable.
Subject: Re: Your interview on Koffee with Karan aired on 6 January 2019
The players have been given 7 days Vme to respond to the showcause noVce served on them.
In view of the grave sexual allegaVons levied on the CEO, it wouldn't be jusVfied if he conducts the inquiry.
It's bad opVcs and COA will be criVcised for it.
With 2 players coming back the Selectors are in the process of sending the replacements immediately and as
such the team will be full strength.
We should be in no hurry to conduct the inquiry as then it will look like a cover up job being done. The
behaviour of the players have been very controversial and should not be co realted with delibaVng team
strength.
The consVtuVon does not provide for appointment of an ad hoc ombudsman as such it wont be prudent to
go down that lane.
In order to be fair and transparent and in legal terms it is said that not only jusVce is done but also seen to
be done. As such my view is we follow natural jusVce and total transparency and not let any external factors
Page 3 of 14
be done. As such my view is we follow natural jusVce and total transparency and not let any external factors
come into play.
The inquiry should be done by the COA along with the three Office Bearers or the COA along with the
Secretary who is sVll funcVonal and carrying out his duVes.
Diana.
Regards, Rahul.
Now that the noVce has been issued and suspension orders have taken effect we
need to take the following steps:
Page 4 of 14
On Fri, 11 Jan 2019, 17:44 Rahul Johri <rahul.johri@bcci.tv wrote:
Dear Sir & Ma’am,
As per legal, the CEO will send the show cause noVce and The suspension noVce will go
from the CoA.
Regards, Rahul.
Ok.
Dear Ma’am,
Regards,
Indranil
Page 5 of 14
We need to urgently let the team management know so
they are mentally prepared.
Kindly advise
regards
Rahul
---
Based on the legal opinion and Vll the Vme the final
procedure is laid down to address this issue, will
recommend that a communicaVon be sent to the
concerned players and the team immediately.
Page 6 of 14
It will be imperaVve that the players be put under
suspension Vll a further course of acVon is decided for
this misconduct as was done in the case of CEO when he
was sent on leave in the sexual harassment maTer.
Diana.
Dear Indranil,
Amitabh.
Page 7 of 14
1. As per Rule 16 of the BCCI ConsVtuVon
registered on 21st August 2018 (“BCCI
ConsNtuNon”), the BCCI exercises jurisdicVon
over players parVcipaVng in cricket. Rule 17
provides that the Apex Council has the power
to enquire into the conduct of any player and
take such disciplinary acVon against the
player as the Apex Council may deem fit,
which decision shall be final. Rule 18 provides
that in the event of the BCCI enquiring into
the conduct of a player, the BCCI shall
proceed in the manner prescribed in Rule 41.
It is thus necessary to read Rules 16, 17, 18
and 41 of the BCCI ConsVtuVon together.
Page 8 of 14
accordingly drops the charge, hearing
shall commence on the case and shall be
completed as expediVously as possible
by providing a reasonable opportunity
to the parVes of being heard. If, despite
due noVce, any party fails to submit any
cause or submits insufficient cause, the
Ombudsman shall aoer providing
reasonable opportunity of hearing to
the parVes concerned, pass appropriate
order. In the event any party refuses and
or fails to appear despite noVce, the
Ombudsman shall be at liberty to
proceed ex-parte on the basis of
available records and evidence.
Page 9 of 14
2. ‘Misconduct’ per se has been defined in
the Black’s Law Dic2onary to be “any
transgression of some established and
definite rule of ac2on, a forbidden act,
unlawful or improper behavior, willful in
character, a derelic2on of duty.” In a different
context, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has
opined that the word “misconduct” has no
precise meaning, and its scope and ambit has
to be construed with reference to the subject
maTer and context wherein the term occurs.
In the context of misconduct of player it may
be relevant to refer to the provisions
contained under the contract entered into
with him (“Player Contract”).
Page 10 of 14
III. BCCI Code of Conduct for Players and
Team Officials: We have gone through the Code
of Conduct which also lays down a procedure for
dealing with acts of misconduct on the part of
players. We feel that the present maTer does
not fall within the ambit of the Code of Conduct
and the procedure laid down in the Code of
Conduct should not be invoked in the present
circumstances because – (i) the Code of Conduct
primarily relates to on-field offences and only
those off-field offences which pertain to
criVcisms of any incidents occurred in a match or
against another player, team, support personnel,
match official or the like; and (ii) in any case the
procedure sVpulated in the BCCI ConsVtuVon
would have primacy over the procedure set out
under the Code of Conduct.
Page 11 of 14
them has commenced. We are of the view
that there is a risk of the communicaVons
sent by the BCCI to the players on 9th
January 2019 not being construed as a
communicaVon under Rule 41 of the BCCI
ConsVtuVon. This is because the said
communicaVons dated 9th January 2019 do
not contain the specificaVons/ingredients
menVoned hereinabove. Therefore, to
ensure that there are no procedural
missteps, it would be preferable that fresh
communicaVons are issued by the CEO to
the concerned players. The said fresh
communicaVons can make a reference to
the communicaVons dated 9th January
2019.
Page 12 of 14
6. In terms of Rule 41(6), considering that
the inquiry process against the concerned
players has commenced and is pending, it is
open for the COA to suspend the concerned
players (along with their privileges and
benefits) pending enquiry and proceeding
into the charges of misconduct unVl final
adjudicaVon. The suspension will however
cease if the said adjudicaVon is not
completed within 6 months.
Regards,
Indranil
Diana.
Very crass.
Page 13 of 14
From: vinod rai
<raivinod@hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2019 8:05
PM
To: Diana Edulji; Rahul Johri
Subject: Re: Your interview on Koffee
with Karan aired on 6 January 2019
FYI.
Page 14 of 14
Dear Sir,
Please find aTached my reply to the BCCI
show cause noVce. Also aTached are the
screenshots of my public apology as
issued by me on my social media handles
this morning.
Regards,
Hardik
Regards
---
Page 15 of 14