Former first class cricketer Tahir Shah has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ch Zaka Ashraf to impose ad-hoc or an interim set-up on all the cricketing regions and in particular in sensitive Lahore Region to ensure the fair scrutiny of clubs and elections in a transparent way.

Shah said the PCB should have pattern of national elections and have neutral and interim set-up at the regions prior to club scrutiny and regional polls.Talking to TheNation on Wednesday Shah said: “In order to hold fair and transparent scrutiny of Lahore clubs, it is necessary to impose ad hoc or interim set-up which will surely help in weeding out all the bogus and fake clubs of the city which have no purpose but to give votes in return of a big money they are receiving from the current LCCA officials to blackmail them.”

He also urged the PCB Election Commissioner Ch M Siddique to ensure fair scrutiny and elections of Lahore Region.Shah pointed out that the very bitter but an important reality was that most of the clubs hailing from Model Town area were being run on business basis while on the other hand, most of the East and North Zones clubs, which produced legendary players like Hafeez Kardar, Imtiaz Ahmed, Abdul Qadir, Aamir Sohail, Inzamamul Haq, M Yousaf and many others, mostly belong from lower middle-class, have been deprived of even the playing facilities.

He said it was a good step taken by Punjab government to provide maximum number of new grounds to LCCA but East Zone and North Zone have still been met with step-motherly treatment.

Criticising the scrutiny performa provided to club organisers to fill in by PCB, Shah said: “The performa, which PCB is using during the club scrutiny, is of Australian style and whatever written in it is about Australian club cricket as according to some of its clauses, it has been asked that how much your club is earning, how many foreign tours club has made. If this performa cannot be filled by PCB officials except a few then how it can be filled by the club organisers.”

Shah urged the PCB chief to scrutinise PCB and regional officials first and then come to the clubs as many of the officials were enjoying great facilities but doing nothing for the betterment of cricket at grass root-level rather preferring their own interests to domestic cricket