Telangana High Court criticises Hyderabad Cricket Association over Aadhaar OTP verification of minor player

The court was dealing with a writ petition filed by 15-year-old Master Shiva Ramakrishna Terli, a promising young cricketer who had previously captained the Hyderabad Under-14 team

Hyderabad: Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) for insisting on Aadhaar OTP verification from a minor player as a prerequisite for registration to the BCCI’s Under-16 tournaments, declaring the requirement as illegal and violative of the minor’s right to privacy.

The court was dealing with a writ petition filed by 15-year-old Master Shiva Ramakrishna Terli, a promising young cricketer who had previously captained the Hyderabad Under-14 team.

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The petitioner contended that despite submitting all valid documents including his passport, birth certificate, and school records the HCA demanded Aadhaar-based OTP authentication over a phone call on the night of October 3, 2024, and allegedly threatened that failure to comply would jeopardize his cricketing career.

Following this incident, an FIR was registered against HCA officials under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Aadhaar Act, and the Information Technology Act for alleged unauthorised data access and intimidation.

The High Court had earlier issued an interim order on November 6, 2024, restraining HCA from enforcing the OTP condition and directing immediate registration of the player. However, the association failed to comply. Representing the HCA, counsel attempted to justify the action by citing an anonymous complaint alleging the minor had submitted two different birth certificates.

However, the court noted that no inquiry or show-cause notice was issued, nor was the association’s own grievance mechanism under Rule 41 invoked before taking such a harsh measure.

Justice Bheemapaka held that Aadhaar OTP authentication is not a statutory requirement for registration with either BCCI or HCA, and relied on a UIDAI circular and relevant legal precedents to assert that Aadhaar can only be used to establish identity, not as conclusive proof of date of birth. Further, the court observed that age verification for U-16 cricket is determined through the TW3 bone maturity test, which the petitioner had successfully cleared.

The report of the test, though in the custody of the HCA, was not produced before the court, drawing further criticism from the bench. Calling the association’s conduct unjustified, arbitrary, and contrary to the minor’s right to privacy, the court directed the immediate registration of the petitioner and permitted him to participate in all official tournaments without any Aadhaar OTP condition.