LAHORE - The acting chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Najam Sethi has promised to make all affairs of the board more transparent and to have a new code of conduct for players and officials.
Sethi, after chairing a meeting of the governing body, said that the new code of conduct was being prepared and would be soon put in place. “The reason for having a new code of conduct is to ensure that everything functions smoothly in our cricket set up and there are no illegal or unconstitutional decisions," Sethi said at a press conference held here on Wednesday.
Sethi also made it clear that he wanted to have more transparency in the PCB affairs. “I don't think there is any need to hide things from the people. All matters and decisions should be transparent.”
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday issued a notice to Sethi, directing him to only work in the sphere and take decisions allowed to an interim head of the board. But Sethi said he was working as per orders of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which had given him 90 days to hold re-elections in the board and recognise things. "I am only using the powers given to me by the IHC. As far as the Sindh High Court order is concerned we are waiting for the detailed order to look into it," he added.
Sethi also said that the governing board had discussed the budget besides other key issues at its meeting and also asked him to fly to the West Indies. “I will be going to the West Indies on the wishes of the governing board as it wants me to be there and see first-hand the team affairs and how it is working," he said.
PCB Chief operating Officer (COO) Subhan Ahmad said the board had also decided to secure the services of former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Ehsan Mani to advise the board on the sale of its media and broadcasting rights. “For a while we will be selling our media and broadcasting rights on series to series basis until we can go for a long term deal," he said.
Pakistan sold the television rights for a five-year period to Dubai based Ten Sports for $140.5 million in June 2008. But barely six months later, India halted all bilateral cricket ties with Pakistan in the wake of terrorists attacks on Mumbai, blamed on militants based across the border. The lack of games against their neighbours and arch-rivals is estimated to have cost the Pakistani board up to $88 million in lost earnings and sources within the PCB said its current reserves stand at three billion rupees ($30 million).
Experts believe the PCB's revenues can only be increased if India-Pakistan matches are revived, with the new government saying it wants better relations with New Delhi. India agreed to host Pakistan for a short limited-overs series late last year but all the earnings went to the hosts and Pakistan did not get a share.