No end to crisis in Hyderabad Cricket Association

`Phase II’ AGM fails to resolve appointment of Ombudsman

Hyderabad: The stalemate continued and the much-anticipated `Phase-II’ Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) ended up in a blind alley. As both the groups, one headed by president Mohammed Azharuddin and the other by secretary R Vijayanand, failed to come to an understanding on the appointment of the new Ombudsman, the AGM ended in a chaotic manner.

The former Indian captain, who came to the press box with his supporters, announced that Justice (retd) Deepak Verma will be the new Ombudsman but a few minutes later Vijayanand said that Justice (retd) Nisar Ahmad Kakru was their choice and thus creating confusion.

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As chairman of the AGM, Azharuddin claimed he had sought a hand-vote and appointed Justice Verma as Ombudsman. “As president it was my call and beside the High Court order the decision of Verma needed the ratification in the AGM. We had done that,’’ he said.

But Vijayanand said the majority of 160-odd members who attended the meeting, had asked for a secret ballot which was rejected by Azharuddin. “We got 120-odd signatures for Justice (retd) Nisar Ahmad Kakru as the Ombudsman of HCA,’’ he said.

Azharuddin said he will write to the BCCI. “They are not happy with the way things are going on in the association. These people are bringing disrepute to BCCI and HCA. As a president I will take the call on the Ombudsman.’’

Terming it as an illegal meeting after he had adjourned it, Azharuddin said once he closed the meeting, it was over. “I’m going as a representative of HCA to the BCCI.’’

Coming down heavily on Vijayanand, Azhar said the court order is very damning. “If the members do not accept the High Court order it is a disgrace. If I was in that position I would have resigned,’’ he said, referring to the strictures against secretary Vijayanand.

He also wondered why they have apprehensions of having Justice Verma as Ombudsman. “I even told the AGM the Ombudsman would go by the rules and not one club would be snatched away. He is a Supreme Court judge and no ordinary person. A few of the members leveled charges against him. It is a contempt of court. You cannot accuse a Supreme Court judge,’’ he said.

Vijayanand said since `Azhar walked away’, they had asked vice president John Manoj to chair the meeting. “The constitution clearly says that the Ombudsman’s name had to be ratified by the AGM although the Apex Council could approve his/her name. We have more than 120 signatories for Justice Kakru as Ombudsman and Justice (retd) Meena Kumari as Ethics Officer,’’ he said.

Manoj said the 7th March meeting at Gymkhana had approved the names of Justice Kakru and Justice Kumari.

He added that former president Shivlal Yadav will represent HCA to the BCCI meetings. Asked by both the parties announcing their names of Ombudsman, Manoj said Vijayanand, as secretary, would send the minutes to the BCCI. “We welcome an observer of BCCI to attend the AGM. “We have to go by the majority of the votes and we had decided in the March 28 meeting, the Ombudsman will be elected through secret ballot.’’

On the strictures against Vijayanand, Manoj said he had not been served any notices. Both the groups named their respective Cricket Advisory Committee. Azhar said Venkatapathy Raju, Purnima Rau and Sudeep Tyagi in the CAC while Manoj said it will be MV Narasimha Rao, Shravanti Naidu and Tyagi.

Imran Mehmood, legal advisor of Azharuddin group, said the meeting was held in a democratic manner and Apex Council and High Court’s Order on having Justice Deepak Verma as Ombudsman is final.

Incidentally, the majority of the Apex Council members were with the Vijayanand group. Cricket continues to suffer and there seems to be no early end to the imbroglio. It is time for the BCCI to look into this HCA mess and take appropriate action.

Committees appointed by the Vijayanand group at the AGM

Senior Tourament Committee: CJ Srinivas, Jaggulal, Bhuvan, Vaidyanathan, Syed Moizuddin.

Tours, Fixtures & Technical Committee: Vijay Mohan Raj, Ramana Murthy, Rajesh Yadav, MA Moiz, Riaz Qureshi .

Cricket Advisory Committee: MV Narasimha Rao, Sudeep Tyagi, Sravanthi Naidu.

Junior Selection Committee: Ethesham Ali Khan (chairman), Ashwin Yadav, Habib Ahmed, Indersekhar Reddy, Anwar Khan.

Cricket Talent Committee: Arshad Ayub, Noel David, Diana David, Vivek Jaisimha.

Umpires Committee: Partha Saradhi, Nanda Kishore, Ravi Teja, Elangovan, Syed Saleem.

Women’s Selection Committee: Apex Council to decide.

Women’s Cricket Committee: Apex Council to decide.

Differently Abled CC: Chandu, Mazhar Ali Khan

TTL Governing Council: Narender Goud, M Srinivas Reddy

Grounds Committee: Ashok Makhija, Sunil Kumar, Rajender Yadav.

CEO: Suneel Kante

CFO: Ruthwik Kandhi, Umapathi

Managers

Human resources: T Shesh Narayan.
Infrastructure & Law: Srinivas Pattapu.
Technical & Finance: Chitti Sridhar.
Media: Vikram Man Singh.

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