PCB high officials quitting without obvious reasons

KARACHI: Around one dozen PCB high officials have quit since Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan took over. The latest to resign is CFO Badar M Khan.

A source said that people were leaving well-paying jobs because they were facing serious allegations and the Board had given them a safe passage. Those who have left include Salahuddin Sallu, Shakeel Sheikh, Director Marketing Naila Bhatti, COO Subhan Ahmed, Shafqat Nagmi, Ali Zia, and Shafiq Papa. Either their contracts ended and were not renewed or they resigned.

A source said some of these high officials had hurt the promotion of the game in the country, and had been drawing high salaries, while delivering nothing. The source said the PCB did not ask these officials any questions about their wrongdoings if they were ready to leave.

A former Test cricketer who has tried to get a position in the Board but remained unsuccessful said it was the same board which people were desperate to join. He said it was surprising that high officials were leaving without any obvious reason. “Has the Governing board members looked into this matter,” he said. “It is not usual for somebody to leave a post that was paying him a million rupees a month,” he added.

A PCB official said a clean-up campaign was going on at the PCB. “Those who have been close to the previous sets of administrators or those who haven’t worked well enough are being shown the door,” he added.

He said some more people were going to leave either because their performance was not up to the mark or there were a number of complaints against them. “If they don’t resign, their contracts will not be renewed,” added the official. “Those who are over 60 and nearing the completion of their contract will not be given another contract,” the PCB source said. But he said there were still two former Test cricketers who are over 65 and are still working in the PCB. “Let’s see what happens to the two big names,” he said.