Ganguly too had to suffer because of conflict of interest clause because of his involvement with Delhi Capitals and Cricket Association of Bengal. © AFP

In its 11th and final status report which it has submitted to the Supreme Court, the outgoing Committee of Administrators (CoA) has recommended an amendment to the contentious conflict of interest clause, which has seen top ex-India cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Kapil Dev quit the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) after complaints from MPCA life member Sanjeev Gupta that all of them were in breach of this rule.

Even Rahul Dravid's role as the director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) is in danger after BCCI' Ethics Officer DK Jain admitted Gupta's conflict complaint against the batting legend. Soon after taking over as the president-elect of the BCCI, Ganguly had expressed his concern over the clause, saying that it was preventing former cricketers from serving the game in various ways.

"The CoA, in its tenure, has come across various instances where the rules pertaining to conflict of interest have been applied to positions and scenarios which in its view didn't warrant such application. Possibly, this was a result of straight-jacketed application of rules. A few of the concerns stemming from such straight-jacketed application include absolute prohibition on former players from occupying multiple, or two unrelated/remotely related posts, undue restrictions on the current players (not on an annual contract with the BCCI) from being gainfully employed even outside the BCCI during the offseason," the COA has said in its report.

The CoA is of the view that "the proscriptions contained in rule 38 (4) of the BCCI constitution are capable of being interpreted in a very straight-jacketed manner, which is proving to be counter-productive and disproportionately restrictive to players."

It has recommended that the BCCI Ethics officer ought to be given more flexibility and discretion to administer and resolve conflicts in the facts and circumstances of each case rather than be bound by a "straight-jacketed formula."

Accordingly, the CoA has recommended, "amendment to Rule 38 of the BCCI constitution vide insertion of certain clauses and sub-clauses." "The same has been outlined in the report prepared by CoA upon consultation with various stakeholders, including current and former cricketers, cricket administrators, persons specializing in the study of ethics and legal experts. The suggestions are made with the objective of clarifying a few aspects covered by the prevalent conflict of interest rules, which have proved to be problematic, whilst retaining their original character and spirit," says the CoA in its report.