HCA AGM unanimously appoints Ombudsman, Ethics Officer; meeting ends without dissent

The HCA’s adjourned AGM on Saturday unanimously appointed Justice (Retd) Suresh Kumar Kait as Ombudsman and Justice (Retd) K.C. Bhanu as Ethics Officer. Despite expectations of discord, the meeting passed off peacefully, focusing only on the appointments.

Hyderabad:The adjourned Annual General Meeting of the Hyderabad Cricket Association which was held at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday has unanimously approved the names of former Chief Justice
(Retd) Suresh Kumar Kait as the Ombudsman and Justice (retd) K.C.Bhanu, as the Ethics Officer of the HCA.

The Ombudsman’s name was proposed by the former BCCI President N. Shivlal Yadav and seconded by former Andhra cricketer and now IPL Governing Council member V. Chamundeswaranath.

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One of the senior most members of the HCA, Vinod Ingle, proposed the name of Justice Bhanu for the post of Ethics Officer and he was seconded by another senior member Ravinder Singh.

The meeting, contrary to the general impression that it would be a heated one, passed off without any dissent or any animated discussions on any subject other than briefly discussing the appointments of the Ombudsman and the Ethics Officer.

The tenure of both the Ombudsman and the Ethics Officer is one year with a provision, subject to the approval of the AGM, to extend upto three years. And, significantly, both the honourable Justices had been nominated only after their consent, a senior HCA official informed ‘Telangana Today’.

“Well, the need of the hour is to put up a united face in the face of the unprecedented crisis the HCA is facing in the wake of criminal proceedings initiated against some of the key officials of the Apex Council,” one member informed ‘Telangana Today’ on condition of anonymity.

“The AGM didn’t discuss any other issue and it was over within minutes. Though there was an opinion by a couple of members that the 57 disputed clubs could also have been invited for the meeting as was done in 2024, it was quietly overrules with the acting President of HCA Daljeet Singh and others insisting that the need of the hour is to
follow the rule book,” the member explained.