Hyderabad Cricket Association row deepens, five Apex council members disqualified

Vicepresident John Manoj, secretary R Vijayanand, joint secretary Naresh Sharma, treasurer Surender Agarwal and Councilor P Anuradha are facing enquiry under Rule 41(1) (b) by the Ombudsman.

Hyderabad: In the continued ugly struggle for power in the Hyderabad Cricket Association between president Mohammed Azharuddin and the Apex Council, Azhar appointed Ombudsman Justice (retired) Deepak Verma passed an interim order temporarily disqualifying the five Apex Council members.

According to a statement issued by Azharuddin, the five Apex Council members –vice-president John Manoj, secretary R Vijayanand, joint secretary Naresh Sharma, treasurer Surender Agarwal and Councilor P Anuradha are facing enquiry under Rule 41(1) (b) by the Ombudsman.

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Azharuddin further said that as president he would take suitable steps to implement the order.
However, secretary Vijayanand dismissed the claims of Azharuddin. “We have not recognised Justice Deepak Verma as HCA Ombudsman since it was not approved in the April 11 Annual General Meeting,” he said.

He also said that the local leagues will go ahead as per schedule. “We have nothing to do with these orders and we are going ahead with the leagues.”

Meanwhile, Justice Verma also quashed the suspension of Mohd Azharuddin as president by the Apex Council and directed him to continue as president of the cricket body.

“I would like to make it clear that, just because these five members believe on their own accord that I am not ombudsman does not take away my powers which have now been confirmed by the HC judgment and the minutes of the 85th AGM as well. These members cannot evade the due process of law just by stating that they don’t agree to my appointment. It is clear from the above, that these members have malafide intentions and do not want smooth functioning of HCA. It for this reason and reasons mentioned above, I hereby direct that these members are temporarily disqualified from performing their duties as office bearers of the Apex Council till the time these complaints attain finality. These complaints will finally be decided after conducting an online hearing within three weeks from now. The exact date and details of the online hearing shall be provided in due course,” Justice Verma said in his 16-page order.

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