HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court order has come as a much needed boost for Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president Mohd Azharuddin ahead of the 85th AGM of the cricket body to be held at the RGIC Stadium, on Sunday.
Azharuddin had to face much heat from the members as the ratification of the appointment of Justice (retd) Deepak Verma as Ombudsman-cum-Ethics Officer ran into rough weather during the AGM held on March 28. Because of the ruckus that was created on the matter, the AGM was postponed to April 11 to complete the remaining business agenda. “As agreed in the meeting the Agenda for Phase II will start from point 6 onwards. Points 1-5 all were agreed, endorsed and approved by the members,” secretary R Vijayanand had stated in the notice sent on April 1.
The high court, while categorically stating in its order that the appointment of Justice Verma was done by the Apex Council, had found fault with Vijayanand for ‘conniving’ with Budding Star CC to stall the appointment of Justice Verma. The court also rapped Vijayanand for his ‘mala fide intention to cover up misdeeds of the illegal acts’.
Azharuddin had maintained that the Apex Council had decided on the appointment of Verma and everything was done in a proper manner. However, Vijayanand and the rest of the elected Apex Council members had stated that they had only discussed and not appointed the Ombudsman as it should be done in the AGM.
The court ruling makes it clear that the Apex Council was party to the decision and exonerates Azharuddin on the matter. “The AGM will be held on Sunday but it remains to be seen how and what transpires during the matter. There is a lot of uncertainty right now as everyone has their own agenda to pursue,” an office-bearer told ToI on Saturday.
Though the court has cleared the deck for Justice Verma, Azharuddin will still have to put the matter before the AGM and get it ratified. “The court has only ruled on the legality of the appointment but still the members will have to ratify or approve the appointment,” said a former office-bearer.
It is learnt that both groups have called for a meeting of the HCA members on Saturday evening to drum up support for their positions.
However, this time around the focus would be on Vijayanand and the indictment of the court against him. “Some of the members are agitated about the way Vijayanand has handled the matter. It is a clear violation of the HCA constitution and there is no reason why the secretary and all the Apex Council members who supported him shouldn’t be suspended,” said former EC member RM Bhaskar.
“When Babu Rao, Chitti Sridhar and myself (all EC members) were suspended when Arshad Ayub was president for questioning the bungling of accounts, why can’t Vijayanand and the others be suspended for bringing the HCA into disrepute and carrying out illegal/unlawful activities,” asked Bhaskar.
“We are going to ask the members to suspend Vijayanand and the others for their misdeeds,” said C Babu Rao.
“The members are fighting about the appointment of the Ombudsman but no one is speaking about the appointment of the CEO and the CFO. The association is functioning without these key officers, who are supposed to run the organisation. It is very important that these personnel are appointed immediately as they have the authority to also sign cheques. It is unfortunate that unauthorised persons are signing the cheques,” said a former office-bearer.
It looks like another stormy affair on Sunday.
Azharuddin had to face much heat from the members as the ratification of the appointment of Justice (retd) Deepak Verma as Ombudsman-cum-Ethics Officer ran into rough weather during the AGM held on March 28. Because of the ruckus that was created on the matter, the AGM was postponed to April 11 to complete the remaining business agenda. “As agreed in the meeting the Agenda for Phase II will start from point 6 onwards. Points 1-5 all were agreed, endorsed and approved by the members,” secretary R Vijayanand had stated in the notice sent on April 1.
The high court, while categorically stating in its order that the appointment of Justice Verma was done by the Apex Council, had found fault with Vijayanand for ‘conniving’ with Budding Star CC to stall the appointment of Justice Verma. The court also rapped Vijayanand for his ‘mala fide intention to cover up misdeeds of the illegal acts’.
Azharuddin had maintained that the Apex Council had decided on the appointment of Verma and everything was done in a proper manner. However, Vijayanand and the rest of the elected Apex Council members had stated that they had only discussed and not appointed the Ombudsman as it should be done in the AGM.
The court ruling makes it clear that the Apex Council was party to the decision and exonerates Azharuddin on the matter. “The AGM will be held on Sunday but it remains to be seen how and what transpires during the matter. There is a lot of uncertainty right now as everyone has their own agenda to pursue,” an office-bearer told ToI on Saturday.
Though the court has cleared the deck for Justice Verma, Azharuddin will still have to put the matter before the AGM and get it ratified. “The court has only ruled on the legality of the appointment but still the members will have to ratify or approve the appointment,” said a former office-bearer.
It is learnt that both groups have called for a meeting of the HCA members on Saturday evening to drum up support for their positions.
However, this time around the focus would be on Vijayanand and the indictment of the court against him. “Some of the members are agitated about the way Vijayanand has handled the matter. It is a clear violation of the HCA constitution and there is no reason why the secretary and all the Apex Council members who supported him shouldn’t be suspended,” said former EC member RM Bhaskar.
“When Babu Rao, Chitti Sridhar and myself (all EC members) were suspended when Arshad Ayub was president for questioning the bungling of accounts, why can’t Vijayanand and the others be suspended for bringing the HCA into disrepute and carrying out illegal/unlawful activities,” asked Bhaskar.
“We are going to ask the members to suspend Vijayanand and the others for their misdeeds,” said C Babu Rao.
“The members are fighting about the appointment of the Ombudsman but no one is speaking about the appointment of the CEO and the CFO. The association is functioning without these key officers, who are supposed to run the organisation. It is very important that these personnel are appointed immediately as they have the authority to also sign cheques. It is unfortunate that unauthorised persons are signing the cheques,” said a former office-bearer.
It looks like another stormy affair on Sunday.