Why CoA member Diana wants CEO out

Only woman member of the CoA wants on-leave Johri to be suspended, citing a case of workplace harassment of a BCCI staffer, besides cases of sexual misconduct

Diana Edulji felt Johri should be suspended with immediate effect even as CoA chief Vinod Rai decided to follow the natural justice principle and form an independent three-member committee to probe the allegations.

A source close to Edulji told mid-day that two aspects mattered the most to her: "She had to stand up for this as she is a woman. It was important to support those who were victimised. The other important aspect was that the image of the BCCI was at stake.

"The CoA has worked really hard to redeem the BCCI with new policies and transparency processes. All those efforts would now go down the drain with the controversy surrounding the BCCI CEO, who is still not suspended despite facing such serious allegations.

'Important to act now'
"How would BCCI look at the International Cricket Council?" the source asked. "It allows its chief executive to function despite the seriousness of the allegations? Let the natural course of justice take place over the period of time, but it was important to act now."

The source revealed that Johri was asked to resign from his position pending an inquiry, but he refused to do so. Ever since Johri's case came to light, it is perceived that the CoA used a different yardstick for its CEO and India pacer Mohammad Shami, whose central contract was held up briefly after his wife accused him of domestic violence, an extra marital affair and even match fixing.

The source justified that Shami's case was of different nature altogether. "In Shami's case, the CoA were only looking to ascertain the match fixing aspect. Everything else was his personal issue. The BCCI had nothing to do with it, so once the anti-corruption unit cleared his case, he was awarded his central contract," the source said.

The reason behind Edulji's hard stance is that the anonymous social media post is not the only alleged harassment complaint against Johri.

Not the first instance
"It is not the first time that such an allegation has surfaced. A BCCI employee also has accused Johri of harassment. Her department was later changed. So, there is sufficient ground for his removal," the source said. If Johri's allegations are proved true, Korn Ferry, the company hired by the BCCI to do a background check for the BCCI CEO, could also be pulled up. "It is critical to understand how they do their checks. They will have to do some answering as well," the source indicated.

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