New Delhi: Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) chief Kapil Dev might have resigned from his position on Tuesday, but Committee of Administrators (CoA) chief Vinod Rai has made it clear that Kapil didn't need to tender a resignation as his appointment was specific to the selection of the head coach of the Indian team.
Speaking to a leading news agency, Rai said that the letter given to the trio clearly said that it was an appointment for the selection of the head coach and not an annual one.
"No, the resignation wasn't required because in the original appointment letter given to them (Kapil, Anshuman Gaekwad, and Shantha Rangaswamy) it was said that it was specific to that selection (appointment of the head coach) only," he said.
Asked if that meant the conflict issue is a closed chapter, Rai refused to get into the matter. "Like I said before also, I would not like to prejudge the decision of the Ethics Officer," he said.
But a senior BCCI functionary said that it was indeed a closed chapter just like the matter against Sachin Tendulkar was dropped. "Yes, it does. If you remember, the same thing happened in the Tendulkar episode. So, you can say it is a closed chapter," the functionary said.
The former Indian captain's decision to resign from the CAC comes after Ethics Officer D.K. Jain sent a notice to the panel with regards to allegations of conflict of interest as claimed by MPCA life member Sanjeev Gupta.
Rangaswamy had resigned on Sunday after the trio was served with the notice to explain their stand on holding multiple positions in violation of the newly registered BCCI constitution.
The former India cricketer had said that people complaining of conflict was fine, but if the Ethics Officer picked up every complaint then it would create a difficult scenario and getting former cricketers to come into administration would be difficult.
"I gave my resignation from the CAC, as also the directorship of the players association. Last night, I mailed it to the concerned authorities. Now, I can understand individuals complaining. But if the Ethics Officer acts on that then it is not worth continuing. And I think one of the pressing demands for the new BCCI committee will be to provide clarity on this conflict of interest clause and from where are they looking to get eligible cricketers in key committees," she had told the same news agency.
