Najam Sethi named to continue as PCB's Board of Governors

The probability of Najam Sethi taking over as chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been strengthened further after he was named as one of the two direct nominees on the Pakistan‘s Board of Governors (BoG). The other nominee is Arif Ejaz, who is a prominent corporate figure and was nominated by the current prime minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif.

The three-year tenure of the current Board of Governors, the board which is currently controlling the PCB, ends in August. A fresh election would be conducted for a new chairman by the new BoG, which will sit till August 2020. The chairman Shaharyar Khan, who is aged 83 will be stepping down after the term ends this month. Khan had given the board his resignation earlier in this year. Ejaz will replace the 83-year-old at the helm of affairs. Sethi’s appointment has been extended for three years, meaning continuity.

The new Board of Governors

After the composition of the BoG had been reworked in 2014, where the members were reduced from 14 to 10. The body is made up of four representatives of regional associations (chosen from the top four regional teams from the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy), four representatives of services organisations (from the top four department sides) and the two representatives directly appointed by the patron.

The term of each member in the BoG is three years and equivalent to one term of the chairman in a bid to maintain a continuity in the set-up. The four new regional representatives will be determined by the Election Commissioner on July 31.

As per the reports on ESPN Cricinfo, it is understood that the present regional representatives – Islamabad, Rawalpindi Karachi and Peshawar – will be replaced by four new regions. The constitution states that the next four will be appointed on the basis of their ranking in the last Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

The Patron makes the first move to pick the new chairman, where the Election Commissioner will hold fresh elections for the BoG through a majority vote. All the elections must happen within four weeks since the office of the chairman in vacated.