HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president Mohd Azharudddin said appointment of any other person than Justice (retd) Deepak Verma as Ombudsman will be contempt of court.
“The Telangana high court had said that the Apex Council had taken the decision to appoint Verma and it should be ratified at the AGM. Therefore, the decision was ratified. Some of the Apex Council members have come up with two more names but in which Apex Council meetings were their names discussed. When did we get their consent? I am not aware of it. It’s not the question of majority. We got the majority by raising our hands and that’s why I passed the motion. Once you give the go-ahead in the Apex Council, it is done. Any other appointment will be contempt of court,” Azharuddin said on Sunday after the deferred 85th AGM was held at the RGIC Stadium here.
“Last time some members leveled charges against him (Verma) which is not proper and is a contempt of court. The court order is a very damning one and says that people colluded to stall the appointment of Justice Verma. If people are not going to accept the court order it’s a disgrace to the association. If I was in their position I would have resigned on moral grounds. Some of the secretaries didn’t want to allow them to sit in the meeting but I permitted them to attend it as it would be against the rules,” the former Indian captain said.
“The elected members cannot go against the association. They have been chosen by the members to take care of the association and how they can work against it. That’s what the court order says. It cannot be brushed aside. If anything else is done, it will be contempt of court,” he added.
Azhar said that appropriate action will be taken against members who go against the association. “I will take action against the secretary and others only after getting a legal opinion on the matter. These are serious allegations and cannot be just brushed aside. I have nothing against anyone. I don’t have any intention to grab anyone’s club etc. I don’t want any club. I want to strengthen the clubs and reform the system so that cricket will become our focus again. I want everyone to work in tandem for the betterment of the association.”
“What has been done today is good for the game of cricket and instead of concentrating on the game we are fighting over insignificant matters like who is coming etc. We have made very important appointments today and now we have to appoint the CEO and CFO too. I also assured the members that the districts will get 20 pc of the funds that the BCCI gives us. We will also ask the government to allot land to build stadia in the respective districts,” he stated.
“In the ensuing new cricket season, we will get things right and do whatever is necessary to get cricket going smoothly. I will make sure that nothing goes wrong in the association. The association cannot be run on anyone whims and fancies as there are rules to be followed. Some members have spoken ill of the chair and I will go through the matter and give show-cause notice to such members and suspend them,” he said.
Speaking about the Cricket advisory Committee, he said: “The CAC is a difficult job and there are not many takers for it. We have proposed the names of senior members like SL Venkatapathy Raju, Purnima Rau and Sudeep Tyagi. If they don’t agree we will see what needs to be done.”
Multiple clubs issue has to be addressed for fair polls: Bhaskar
“To have free-and-fair elections in the HCA, there is an urgent need to address the multiple clubs issue. As long as some of the members have multiple votes, they will not allow any reform to take place and unsavory incidents like today will continue in the association. To cover up all this, some of the members don’t want the appointment of Justice Verma,” said former EC member RM Bhaskar.
“What has happened today is in poor taste. Things are only going from bad to worse. The only positive thing is that my proposal to earmark 30 percent of the BCCI funds to HCA towards development of district cricket was unanimously approved by the members. Am happy that district cricket will henceforth be given priority,” said former secretary T Shesh Narayan.
“The Telangana high court had said that the Apex Council had taken the decision to appoint Verma and it should be ratified at the AGM. Therefore, the decision was ratified. Some of the Apex Council members have come up with two more names but in which Apex Council meetings were their names discussed. When did we get their consent? I am not aware of it. It’s not the question of majority. We got the majority by raising our hands and that’s why I passed the motion. Once you give the go-ahead in the Apex Council, it is done. Any other appointment will be contempt of court,” Azharuddin said on Sunday after the deferred 85th AGM was held at the RGIC Stadium here.
“Last time some members leveled charges against him (Verma) which is not proper and is a contempt of court. The court order is a very damning one and says that people colluded to stall the appointment of Justice Verma. If people are not going to accept the court order it’s a disgrace to the association. If I was in their position I would have resigned on moral grounds. Some of the secretaries didn’t want to allow them to sit in the meeting but I permitted them to attend it as it would be against the rules,” the former Indian captain said.
“The elected members cannot go against the association. They have been chosen by the members to take care of the association and how they can work against it. That’s what the court order says. It cannot be brushed aside. If anything else is done, it will be contempt of court,” he added.
Azhar said that appropriate action will be taken against members who go against the association. “I will take action against the secretary and others only after getting a legal opinion on the matter. These are serious allegations and cannot be just brushed aside. I have nothing against anyone. I don’t have any intention to grab anyone’s club etc. I don’t want any club. I want to strengthen the clubs and reform the system so that cricket will become our focus again. I want everyone to work in tandem for the betterment of the association.”
“What has been done today is good for the game of cricket and instead of concentrating on the game we are fighting over insignificant matters like who is coming etc. We have made very important appointments today and now we have to appoint the CEO and CFO too. I also assured the members that the districts will get 20 pc of the funds that the BCCI gives us. We will also ask the government to allot land to build stadia in the respective districts,” he stated.
“In the ensuing new cricket season, we will get things right and do whatever is necessary to get cricket going smoothly. I will make sure that nothing goes wrong in the association. The association cannot be run on anyone whims and fancies as there are rules to be followed. Some members have spoken ill of the chair and I will go through the matter and give show-cause notice to such members and suspend them,” he said.
Speaking about the Cricket advisory Committee, he said: “The CAC is a difficult job and there are not many takers for it. We have proposed the names of senior members like SL Venkatapathy Raju, Purnima Rau and Sudeep Tyagi. If they don’t agree we will see what needs to be done.”
Multiple clubs issue has to be addressed for fair polls: Bhaskar
“To have free-and-fair elections in the HCA, there is an urgent need to address the multiple clubs issue. As long as some of the members have multiple votes, they will not allow any reform to take place and unsavory incidents like today will continue in the association. To cover up all this, some of the members don’t want the appointment of Justice Verma,” said former EC member RM Bhaskar.
“What has happened today is in poor taste. Things are only going from bad to worse. The only positive thing is that my proposal to earmark 30 percent of the BCCI funds to HCA towards development of district cricket was unanimously approved by the members. Am happy that district cricket will henceforth be given priority,” said former secretary T Shesh Narayan.