Nazmul 'wants to resign', but what’s next for BCB?

Word around the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) is that Nazmul Hassan Papon has informed one of the directors that he is in favour of resigning as board president. Many other directors, however, claimed to have no knowledge of the president's wish.

It is understood that the BCB president is currently in London. Many of the board directors are untraceable since the fall of the Awami League government on August 5, and those that are there, are facing a crisis.

BCB sources told The Daily Star on Thursday that one of the board directors got in touch with Nazmul and has been told that the board president is ready to cooperate.

"I have heard that Papon bhai told one of our directors that he wants to cooperate. I have not talked to the BCB president directly. I have only heard that he is ready to cooperate but haven't heard of resigning," a BCB director told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

BCB CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury could not be reached over phone at the time of filing this report.

A few BCB directors who are still present, have informed this newspaper that they have asked for a guideline on how to go on about their proceedings from relevant authorities. "What would be best is that if a guideline comes from the interim government that's in our constitution and within ICC's legal framework, it would be good for us," one BCB director said on condition of anonymity yesterday.

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Is the current BCB board legitimate?

"We are still waiting for that guideline," another director said.

According to the BCB constitution, only the BCB president or a vice-president can call for a board meeting. Despite there being provision for two vice-presidents in the current constitution, the BCB did not appoint any. Thus under the current circumstances, a board meeting cannot be called unless the BCB president himself communicates to the BCB CEO that he wants to resign and calls for a meeting even if he is absent from the meeting. He can also appoint a board director as vice-president in his absence and then the vice-president can call a meeting.

The resignation will then have to be approved or rejected by the board.

If a resignation comes from the president, elections are the likely due process and will have to be called since there is nothing in the BCB constitution regarding an interim body.

The BCB president can also communicate and call for a board meeting to appoint two vice-presidents through elections among the 25 directors.

The other way to resolve the current scenario in absence of key figureheads is through the National Sports Council, who can appoint two new directors in place of the ones currently in place. The two new NSC directors can then be appointed as vice-presidents through a meeting to resolve the crisis at the board.

Along with the present scenario in the board, the fate of the upcoming Women's T20 World Cup, originally scheduled to be played in Bangladesh, hangs in the balance. Following an initial August 15 deadline, there is not much time left for ICC to make a decision. For the board, the guideline it seeks would clarify what moves it can make to resurrect Bangladesh's chances of hosting the tournament.