Former Indian Captain Mohammad Azharuddin has been re-instated as the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) by ombudsman Justice (retd) Deepak Verma, on Sunday. Mohammad Azharuddin was suspended from the post of the president of Hyderabad Cricket Association by its apex council on the ground of conflict of interest.
The HCA ombudsman with an interim order disqualified all five members of the HCA apex council. Vice President K John Manoj, R Vijayannand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal, and Anuradha were the names who are now suspended. These five members of the council had given the verdict to suspend Azharuddin from the president of HCA. The Allegations against Azharuddin were about the conflict of interest.
Justice (retd) Verma in his order indicated out that the complaint against Azharuddin was not forwarded to the ombudsman and, in effect had no legal validity.
“[The] Apex Council on its own accord cannot take such a decision. Therefore, I deem it appropriate to set aside the resolution (if any) passed by these five members in suspending the duly elected President, issuing a show-cause notice and direct them to refrain from any subsequent actions against the President of HCA, Mohammed Azharuddin,” Justice (retd) Verma said.
“Therefore, I direct that Mohammad Azharuddin shall continue as president and all complaints against office bearers shall only be decided by the ombudsman,” he added.
Justice (retd) Verma also said about the suspension of the five members of the HCA apex’s council. He said, “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 are now been confirmed by the High Court judgment and the minutes of the 85th AGM as well.”
He concluded, “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.”