PCB Gets Green Light For Legal Action Against BCCI
The PCB claims that BCCI owes it two home series which translates into millions of dollars for Pakistan cricket
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: December 31, 2016 09:25 pm IST
Highlights
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PCB is set to take legal action against BCCI
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The body's Board of Governors has given it green light to move ahead
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PCB claims BCCI owed it two home series
The Board of Governors of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday gave approval for adopting legal recourse against the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for not honouring the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two boards in 2014 to play bilateral series.
PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi, who heads the executive committee, told the media in Karachi after a meeting of the BOG that the members had given approval for using legal channels to seek compensation for the financial losses suffered by the PCB due to India not honouring the MoU.
"We will start legal consultations soon over the matter as the BOG has today given approval. The fact is that the BCCI signed a MOU document with us to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2022," Khan recalled.
"The International Cricket Council (ICC) is witness to this MOU. We will now be consulting our legal team to take up the matter of India not playing us under the MOU with the BCCI and at the ICC level," Khan said.
Sethi made it clear that the PCB had until now been patient with the Indian board despite them disregarding the MOU.
"But now our patience has also run out because we were supposed to host two home series under the MOU from which we could have earned millions of estimated revenues. But since they are not honouring the MOU we have suffered losses," Sethi, who signed the MOU when he was chairman of the board, said.
India has not played a bilateral series with Pakistan since 2007 when Pakistan toured India for a full Test series. The PCB claims that India owes it two home series which translates into millions of dollars for Pakistan cricket.
In January, the PCB even agreed to host a short one-day series in Sri Lanka as part of the MOU but the BCCI backed out by stating they had not clearance from their government for the series.
Khan said when the BCCI was so reliant on their government for playing Pakistan they should have thought about it before signing the MOU.
"We will now take up this matter with the ICC because the Indian board claims it has been stopped by its government from playing us. We have the MOU to back us and we want to see the instructions from their government in writing," he added.
He said it was unfortunate that the BCCI had not honoured a written agreement.
Khan also announced that the board had decided to leave the decision of retirements to senior players Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi.
"We will not take any decision they will have to decide themselves when they feel it is the right time to retire. All three have given Yeoman service to Pakistan cricket and we respect this and want to ensure they are the ones taking this decision," he said.
PCB to start filing compensation claim
Meanwhile, the PCB is likely to set the ball rolling to file a compensation claim in the jurisdiction of the UK courts against BCCI for not honouring a MoU signed between the two boards in 2014 to play bilateral series, according to sources.
"Once the PCB gets a clear answer from the BCCI its legal team will then work on moving a claim and case in a London court against the BCCI in which the ICC will also be made party," an official source told PTI on Saturday.
"The ICC is witness to the signing of the MoU document," the source added.
The source went on to add that the BOG gave approval for the filing of the case since Sethi made it clear that as chairman of the Board in 2014 he had given Pakistan's support for the Big Three governance system only on condition that the MoU would be honoured by India.
"This will also be a part of the compensation claim case against India with ICC as third party since Pakistan's support for the Big Three was conditional to the MoU being honoured."
The source disclosed that the BOG had told Shaharyar and Sethi that they should go to any extent to resolve the issue of Pakistan and India bilateral series or get compensation and should not worry about the legal expenditures involved in filing cases in the UK courts.Â