KATHMANDU, May 3: Basanta Chaudhary, coordinator of the Advisory Committee formed by the Intrenational Cricket Council (ICC) to solve dispute of Nepali cricket, has said that the vested interests of stakeholders have been a major stumble block to solve the contentious issues.
Speaking in an interaction program organized by Cricket Players Association Nepal (CPAN) on Tuesday, Chaudhary said that the personal interests of the concerned stakeholders haven't helped to solve the problems.
“Until such interests are ended, dispute of cricket can't be solved,” said Chaudhary, who is one of the coordinators of the committee.
“At the beginning, we were given the mandate of forming a cricket board and now another mandate of holding the new election of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). Amending the current charter has also been added,” said Chaudhary, “But the issues are still there. All the stakeholders have different interests which we can't address, so eventually Nepali cricket is suffering.”
The ICC had formed the Advisory Committee giving it the mandate to solve the contentious issues of Nepali cricket after suspending CAN's membership on April 25, 2016.
“We have very less time. We must amend the charter within one month and hold the election. Otherwise, Nepali cricket will meet another accident,” added Chaudhary.
Meanwhile on the same occasion, Minister for Youth and Sports Daljit Sripali requested the Advisory Committee to increase its work pace to finish the charter amendment in order to hold the election.
“I am not doubting the work of the Advisory Committee but I feel that it is taking a bit long time to complete the task. So I request it to increase its pace in order to solve the issues in time,” said Minister Sripali.
“Let's not talk about the past, it is already gone, now our focus should be on amending the charter and holding the election to solve the issues and pave a way for restructuring the Nepali cricket as the country has already moved to a federal system,” added Minister Sripali.
Citing United States Cricket Association (USACA)'s recent expulsion from the International Cricket Council (ICC), Minister Sripali expressed his worries of Nepali cricket also moving on the same path.
“ICC has been waiting for us to solve our disputes. We have to work as per its guidelines.
We also can't afford to take USA's situation lightly so we all have to work together in order to save Nepali cricket from similar situation,” added Minister Sripali.
Meanwhile Chaudhary informed that the amended charter will be made available to all the stakeholders next week.
“But who will execute the amended charter? There have been different views regarding it. There has been demand of CAN's general convention to pass it. As the amended charter will curtail some rights of the members, how they will pass it in the convention?” said Chaudhary, adding, “In such situation the government should be ready to solve the issues by choosing a new way.”
National team captain and CPAAN's General Secretary Paras Khadka said that the interaction program was organized to help solve the issues of Nepali cricket. “We want all the issues to be solved soon so we request all the stakeholders to be serious as we have limited time,” said Khadka.
Sports minister, National Sports Council (NSC)'s member secretary, elected CAN's members, ad-hoc committee's members, departmental clubs' representatives, coaches and umpires were invited for the interaction. However, elected CAN committee's members were absent.
NSC Member Secretary Keshav Kumar Bista expressed his hopes of solving the issues.
“We had requested everyone involved in the dispute to make compromise but unfortunately that didn't happen which resulted in ICC's suspension of CAN,” said Bista.
NSC had formed the ad-hoc committee claiming that CAN held the election without fulfilling proper process. Subsequently, the elected CAN committee filed a case at the Supreme Court. That case is still sub judice. Indicating the sub judice case, Bista said, “The verdict from court may affect the issue. Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC)'s case is the latest example. But hopefully, the court will give verdict that will help to solve the issues,” said Bista.
The Advisory Committee's other coordinator Binay Raj Pandey also expressed his hope of the issues getting solved within a week. The ad-hoc committee's coordinator Ramesh Silwal also said that they are fully helping the Advisory Committee to solve the issue.
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