BCCI’s CEO Rahul Johri posted two letters to the Secretary of the Department of Sports — stating the fact that the BCCI is an autonomous body and it doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of NADA.
The letter, read, “BCCI would like to assure you that it has a zero-tolerance approach to doping in the sport of cricket and is committed to encouraging fair play in sports. BCCI follows the highest professional and ethical standards laid down by WADA to ensure that the cricketers compete in a doping-free environment in India.”
It further added, “BCCI is an autonomous sports organization affiliated with the International Cricket Council (ICC), which governs the game globally and is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code since 2006. Whilst the BCCI acknowledges that NADA is the nodal agency responsible for implementation of anti-doping measures for all National Sports Federations in India, the BCCI is not subject to the jurisdiction of NADA and is required to operate within the rules and regulation set by the ICC.”
The Sports Ministry had earlier complained about the lack of co-operation from BCCI and they stated that it may result in NADA not complying with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code. Replying to the same, Johri said that the BCCI’s existing anti-doping mechanism is ‘strong’ enough and its players don’t need to sign the ‘whereabouts’ clause of NADA.
According to the letter, Johri said, “The BCCI already has a robust dope testing mechanism which is employed for both during competitions and out-of-competitions and the testing of samples by IDTM is already being done at WADA accredited laboratory (NDTL) under aegis of the Sports Ministry. You will appreciate that for analysis and testing of samples, BCCI adheres to the WADA International Standard of Laboratories and the WADA International Standard for Testing and Investigations.”
Earlier, the BCCI’s Committee of Administrators (CoA) had come over a conclusion during a meeting last week that they are satisfied with the current anti-doping system in BCCI and there is no need for the top Indian cricket players to sign the ‘whereabouts clause’.
Speaking to Cricketnext, a senior BCCI official said, “The COA met on Thursday night and did a detailed study of the anti-doping process in place in the BCCI and the feeling is that there is no need to come under NADA as there is provision already for tests at different stages in domestic cricket and when it comes to international cricket, the BCCI is already compliant with WADA and tests are conducted so there is nothing extra that comes with aligning with NADA.”
