MCA - "Seem to lack personalities to handle various of the portfolios"

The administrative heartbeat of any organisation is usually the Secretary. So much, sometimes the post is referred to as General Secretary. The term "general" could refer to a hierarchical position i.e putting the person in a commanding position or it may mean that he does everything that is generalise in nature and nobody else is specified to handle it. The Secretary of an organisation must not be underestimated, for he is the person who is aware of the "pulse rate" of what is happening, as most things go through him. Not having an able Secretary would always put an Organisation in a chaotic situation and similar, if the Secretary does not support his boss.The post itself provides an ostensible authority to the holder.

While the Secretary derives such powers, very seldom he is given other positions to further enhance his powers. Part of the reason is that he has got enough in his plate and if he is "loaded" with more in other areas, something has to suffer. Further, if one person holds too much of positions, it may reflect that there are insufficient capable people and at times the various portfolios may create conflicting positions.

Now lets come to the elected Secretary of MCA. He has held this position for sometime and then he got himself upgraded through an electoral process as Vice President. Strangely when the MCA election was held this time in 2009, he reverted to his former position of Secretary. Having indulged in a higher position, he seem to want the comforts of the old position. Maybe the 2 year break from the post of Secretary has given him a better perspective of undertaking the job.

If that is all then this article probably would not have been written. What is shocking is the decision making process in MCA Exco, which has "loaded" the Secretary with the portfolios of Chairman of Competition Committee and Chairman of Umpires Board. Maybe the Exco believes that the Secretary does not have much work or he is the only person in the Exco who could undertake the tasks or maybe even the "Superman" of cricket administration.

Whatever the reason, i think the MCA Exco is totally unfair to its Secretary. They are overburdening him and if anything goes wrong he would be on the "firing" line. The chances of this happening is so great and this has been reflected as MCA has already delayed the commencement of the national league by 6 to 8 weeks. Now there are issues of postponement of games. With this backdrop, he also has to extend his resource to the Umpires and officials. Somewhere the "seams" would have to give way.

This "one man band wagon" cannot go on like this. When it comes to Reports, he not only has to provide a full report of what is happening but also has to extract one from his own portfolios. In meetings when the issue of his portfolios is discussed, does he always excuse himself as Secretary and wear the "hats" of the other position. If he is reprimanded for his failures in the other Committees, where would his "standing" be as Secretary. When there is conflict between the Umpires, players and Competition officials, where would he be "standing". These are not unusual occurrence, as they have taken place in the past and there is nothing to stop them from happening in the future.

Good sense must prevail in MCA to rectify this situation. Please do not make it look that there are no others in MCA capable of doing the job. Even so, why not co-opt the right personalities to undertake it. It would seem that the decisions were made out of expediency rather than a carefully thought process. MCA cannot allow this sort of things to happen. It may give the impression that standards are not a core ingredient in MCA administration. If the administrators are sloppy in decision making, then do not expect much from the rest including also from the game.