"Does the BCB think its constitution is legal?"

Former Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Saber Hossain Chowdhury held a press briefing yesterday where he raised a number of issues. However, in the end two questions stood out.

The first and most emphatic question was whether the BCB want to operate separately from the government, and the second was whether the current board felt that the current constitution -- under which they were elected -- was legal or not.

He made it clear at the start of the press conference that it was not done as a counter-briefing, but rather because he wanted answers about the day-to-day operations of the current board before going on to state his questions.

"Does the BCB want the interference of the government?" he began. "Under the court's ruling, the BCB will operate as an entity separate from the government. The BCB has appealed, alongside the National Sports Council (NSC), regarding the ruling so what do they want? In the ICC guidelines it is clear that a board will be elected independently. Their appeal has made it clear what they actually want."

The former BCB president, who had written to the board after the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitution in July 26, then posed his second question.

"After the ruling of the court, does the BCB feel that this constitution is legal?" he asked, before asking the NSC to reply to the question within four weeks.

He also questioned the timing of the AGM.

"Why are they holding the AGM after three years? They could have had it right after the election. Now they are doing it because they are being forced into it at the last moment.

"I was asked to attend the AGM as a councilor but I wrote the BCB a letter [on September 12] saying that since the court had deemed the current body unlawful that also means I am not legally a councilor," Saber added.

He went on to say that there was a lot of mud-slinging going on, but that he had no interest in slandering others, which prompted a question about why the issue had come to the media rather than being resolved behind closed doors, especially considering that incumbent BCB president Nazmul Hassan and Saber are both from the same political party.

"I have not brought this issue to the media's attention. I have addressed letters to the BCB president before but I never got any replies," he concluded.

BCB vice-president Mahbub Anam defended the decision to hold the AGM at this time, saying it was necessary to make changes to the constitution.

"The NSC can only approve or reject changes, the BCB will decide the changes that will be made. We are talking to our legal advisors and working accordingly and we want to make some changes to the constitution which can only be done through the AGM. That's why we want the AGM," Anam said.