PCB clarifies their stance on the supremacy of the BoG in light of media report

[MenInG]

BoG remains the PCB’s supreme body

• The PCB has proposed routine amendments to the existing delegation of authority and powers as per Article 13 of the PCB Constitution

• The BoG has the authority and powers to either approve or reject all or some of the management’s recommendations

Lahore, 31 March 2019:

The Pakistan Cricket Board today reiterated as per Article 12* of the PCB Constitution 2014, the Board of Governors (BoG) remained its supreme body, while under Article 13* of the Constitution, it had the powers to delegate its authority to the senior management for the day-to-day operational functioning of the organisation.

The PCB, in response to an article published in the Dawn newspaper dated 31 March 2019, said it had shared an updated and revised Authority Matrix 2019 with the BoG last week for their feedback, comments and approval, as there had been structural and management changes since 2014 when the BoG had last approved the delegation of its authority.

The Authority Matrix 2014 had been attached as an annexure with routine amendments to the Authority Matrix 2019 for reference, background and better understanding of the BoG.

The PCB to date has been operating under the Authority Matrix 2014.

The new proposed Authority Matrix 2019 sets out exercise of authority at various functional levels of PCB management. This was essential as, after the BoG had approved the creation of the new post of the Managing Director, the day-to-day operations had to be redefined and clarified.

This is in line with BoG’s desire to separate the Chairman’s functions from those of the Managing Director (Chief Executive-designate), which were viewed as a conflict.

The essence and spirit of the proposed Authority Matrix 2019 are to run the business in line with transparent and good governance practices where the Chairman oversees policy-making, and the Managing Director and other officers of the Board are responsible for the delivery of all policies.

The BoG’s powers are enshrined in the PCB constitution, which empowers the BoG to itself delegate its authority to any officer of the Board in accordance with Article 13 of the Constitution.

In fact, under the new proposed Authority Matrix 2019, some powers already given to the Chairman by the PCB constitution have been proposed to be distributed amongst other officers as a measure of good governance.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

*Article 12 of the PCB Constitution 2014, which deals with Powers, duties and functions of the Board of Governors, some of the key responsibilities include:

• Formulate regulations, codes, operation manuals and to devise policies relating to efficiency, discipline and recruitment or any other matters for the players, player support personnel, Board's employees or those affiliated with or controlled by the Board;

• Take effective measures for carrying out the objects, powers and functions of the Board;

• Elect the Chairman of the Board in accordance with Paragraph 7 of this Constitution;

• Manage the affairs of the Board and ensure that the provisions of this Constitution, Rules, Regulations and Bye-laws of the Board are duly adhered to;

• Ensure that the programmes formulated and resolutions passed by the Board of Governors or General Body are faithfully carried out;

• Submit an annual report in respect of its activities for consideration of the General Body;

• Approve the annual or supplementary budget estimates of the Board and of the Election Commissioner's office;

• Approve the annual audited accounts of the Board and present the same in the Annual General Meeting;

• Control and oversee income and expenditure of the Board;

• Control and manage the affairs of the stadia, sports complexes, gymnasia and grounds under its charge, directly or through committees or officials of the Board;

• Take any other financial, administrative or management decision and measures required for effective functioning and operation of the Board;

• Exercise such powers and functions contemplated for the Board of Governors by this Constitution, Rules or Regulations;

• Take such other steps as may be necessary and expedient to carry out the objects and functions of the Board in matters not covered by this Constitution, Rules, Regulations and bye laws.

**Article 13 of the PCB Constitution, which deals with Delegation of powers and functions by the Board of Governors, reads as:

(1) The Board of Governors may, subject to such conditions and limitations as it may deem fit to impose, delegate its powers or functions to the Chairman or one or more of its members or any other officer of the Board, except the power to:

(a) approve the annual or supplementary budget of the Board or the Election Commissioner's office

(b) approve the annual audited accounts;

(c) make, amend, modify or repeal Rules and Regulations under section 5 of the Ordinance.

(2) A delegation of powers and functions under this paragraph shall not be construed as preventing the Board of Governors from concurrent exercise of powers or performance of functions so delegated.

 

[MenInG]

The clarification in light of following report:


LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in what seems to be an abrupt, short-sighted plan, has decided to reduce its Board of Governors to a dummy forum by taking away all its powers and handing the same to the chairman and to the managing director — a post that does not even exist in the Board’s Constitution — while distributing the other powers between Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

“After the appointment of Managing Director, the powers and functions of various officials have been revisited and a new financial and administrative matrix of powers and functions has been drafted after internal discussions with senior management of PCB which is attached as Annexure ‘A’ and Annexure ‘B’. The new authority matrix shall supersede the delegation of authority and financial powers previously approved by the BoG on 28th Novemebr 2014,” a PCB letter dated March 25 stated.

“Members are requested to review the attached matrix which may be subject to change from time to time but provides clarity for the smooth operation of the PCB’s affairs,” it further said.

Interestingly, the approval of the above draft is sought by the PCB through a letter written to the members of the Board of Governors which tantamounts to signing on their own ‘death warrant.’

BoG reduced to dummy forum

The members are also advised to provide comments, if any, and give the decision on the attached resolutions.

“After approval of the authority matrix, modifications will have to be made to several policies, codes, rules to incorporate the new authorities and the revised by-laws will subsequently be presented before the BOG for approval,” the letter stated.

According to the documents obtained by Dawn, all kinds of powers and authority have been delegated to the Chairman and the MD while the column to signify the powers of the BoG members — the supreme constitutional body of the PCB which also elects the chairman — is missing altogether.

It may be mentioned here that while the existing constitution of the PCB designates many powers to chairman, COO and CFO, no amendment as yet has been made to assign massive powers to the MD, a post that does not even exist in the PCB’s constitution 2014.

Sources told Dawn that some BoG members are also quite confused after receiving the documents as they believe that they may lose all existing powers if they sign them.

Sources further said the documents were prepared by the legal department of the PCB. It may be mentioned here that the same department had also advised previous chairman of the PCB, Najam Sethi, to file a legal case in the ICC against the BCCI for not honouring the MoU that the two countries signed in 2014 over the resumption of the bilateral series. How that decision backfired is now history since the ICC gave the decision in BCCI’s favour while penalising the PCB with a hefty fine.

Meanwhile, according to the documents, both chairman and MD will enjoy full powers in the Capital Expenditure’s head besides many other heads. Any decision on any construction, ground development, purchase of equipment, furniture and vehicles will be the prerogative of the chairman and the MD with no limits to the amounts at their disposal under these heads mentioned whatsoever.

The COO and CFO would jointly have the powers to rule on construction and ground development projects worth Rs 5000,000 while a limit of Rs 3000,000 have been set for them in decision over equipment, furniture and vehicles. Individually, the COO and CFO will have the power to approve an amount of Rs 2000,000 and Rs 1000,000 respectively under the two above mentioned heads.

In operating expenditure’s head, MD and COO will have full powers relating to the cases of salaries, retainers, pensions, PF contribution while the chairman will not have any say in them.

Overall, the PCB chairman and MD have full powers each in 52 different heads while M.D has five more heads under his command.

Among his many powers, the chairman PCB will have the power to recommend to the patron to remove any member of the BoG.

Moreover, MD emerges as the more powerful person overall as he will also have full jurisdiction in forming the national selection committee, nominating the captain of Pakistan team, change a player or support staff under PCB’s anti-corruption and anti-racism laws.

When contacted, Director Media PCB Sami-ul-Hasan Burney admitted that the PCB had asked the BoG members to delegate their powers to chairman and MD and a similar thing had happened in 2014 when the executive committee of the BoG was all powerful.

However, when reminded that then head of executive committee (Najam Sethi) was a member of the BoG and he got the powers from all the members of the BoG while the MD is not even a BoG member, Sami argued that the MD was appointed with the approval of the BoG.

When asked about the missing column that defined the role and powers of the BoG members, he said it was understood that after delegating all the powers to MD and chairman and other key officials of the PCB, the members (BoG) would simply play the role of monitoring to keep checks and balances. However, he admitted that it was not defined in the documents.

Sami also admitted that though the post of the MD had not been mentioned in the PCB constitution, it was approved by the BoG and, therefore, there was no legal hurdle for him to continue the job with the newly acquired powers.

According to the documents, the hiring, firing and restructuring of Senior Staff (GMs and above) or any committee of the Board also rest with the MD.

However, tas a consolation, chairman PCB has been delegated the power to oversee the function and powers of MD and to evaluate his performance and make appropriate recommendations to the Board. Similaraly, M.D will also oversee functions and powers of COO, CFO and other employees of the Board. All the powers to promote the employees, to give increments, bonuses and the matters relating to disciplinary will also come under the domain of the MD. Special appointments for assignments i.e consultant and advisors would be handled by the PCB chairman.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1472893/abrupt-pcb-plan-to-give-unprecedented-powers-to-md-chairman