Senate Body Summons PCB Over Constitution & Salary Issue

The Senate Standing Committee on Sports has instructed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appear before it in the next meeting with detailed information on the non implementation of the constitution of the board and the salary structure of its employees.

On Saturday, three senators, namely Abdul Raheem Mandokhel, Syed Tahir Mashadi and Enver Beg, submitted a requisition for the meeting under the rule of 163 (4) of the procedure.

According to the rule, it is necessary to summon the meeting in the next 14 days after the submission of the requisition. The Senate committee had earlier asked for the detail of salary structure but the PCB in the last meeting only provided it with the strength of its staff and their posts.

The PCB has recently recruited some 76 officials and, according to sources, its monthly salary bill has increased to Rs10.25 million. It has been climbing the scale every year for the last eight years due to further recruitment without any additional work. Sources said a large number of new employees had been recruited during the ad hocism prevalent in the board during the last eight years.

Although the salary bill of the board has also seen considerable increase during the tenure of Lt Gen Tauqir Zia and the previous chairman Shaharyar M. Khan, it saw an all-time high during Dr Nasim Ashraf’s stint.

Due to the increase in staff, the parking area at the Gaddafi Stadium is running short of parking space too.

Meanwhile, neither Tauqir, Shaharyar nor Dr Nasim have been able to remove the long-standing ad hocism within the board.

“Despite various assurances given to the senators, the PCB could not end the ad hocism in the board and the committee wants a detailed explanation for Dr Nasim’s stance over the delay in not implementing the constitution,” the senators wrote in the requisition.

Soon after assuming the charge as the PCB chairman on Oct 7, 2006, Dr Nasim vowed that the constitution would come in force in the next 45 days.

Though the PCB has a claim that the constitution is pending with the federal law department for vetting and it is not responsible for the delay, there are reports of denial from the department that it occupies the draft of the constitution.