Setback for Azhar: Cannot contest Hyderabad Cricket Association election as SC declines relief

In a rather quick hearing, lasting around 10 minutes on Monday, 9 October, a Bench, comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, declined to provide relief to the former India captain and listed the matter for hearing on 31 October.

“Yes, it is a setback for us. Now, even if his name is reinstated in the voters’ list after the 31 October hearing, it would be of no use, except that we can tell the world that ‘look, we were right — that a conspiracy was hatched against Azharuddin to oust him,” a member of the Azharuddin camp told South First.

Kapil Sibal and Rakesh Khanna, both senior advocates, appeared for Azharuddin, while Santhosh Krishnan, advocate on record, appeared for the HCA.

Interview: I was opposed for initiating reforms at HCA, says Azharuddin

Conflict of interest

Azharuddin, along with his entire panel contesting for the apex council, was elected to the HCA in 2019 for a three-year term.

But due to an inquiry into multiple ownership of clubs — which constitute the bulk of HCA members — by individuals and families, the election has been delayed. The matter then reached the Supreme Court, which appointed two committees, one after the other, and now a retired IAS officer, VS Sampath, is conducting the election.

Interestingly, Azharuddin’s “conflict of interest” was discovered very late, this April.

The Supreme Court in February this year had appointed retired Supreme Court judge L Nageswara Rao as a one-man committee to sort out the HCA membership imbroglio. After a long inquiry Justice Rao, in a landmark order, debarred office-bearers of 57 clubs from contesting and voting in the upcoming elections.

Azharuddin, who has been insisting that he doesn’t own or manage a club, was not among the officials barred.

But a letter dated 4 October, 2022, surfaced recently that bore Azharuddin’s name as president of the Deccan Blues club.

This club is managed by PR Man Singh, manager of the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team, who was debarred from contesting/voting by Justice Rao as he was found to be involved in four clubs concurrently.

The Azharuddin camp insists his consent was never sought to be named president of Deccan Blues, while Man Singh told South First on Sunday that Azharuddin had given his consent orally.

This letter, which the Azharuddin camp is calling “forged”, contained bank and other details of the club, and was sent to a Supreme Court-appointed Supervisory Committee. Justice Rao had taken over from this Supervisory Committee, which had also inquired into the club membership mess.

Azharuddin was already a voter in the HCA by virtue of being a former international cricketer, and the discovery of his association with a club, landed him in a conflict-of-interest zone.

Azharuddin, in a police complaint lodged after the emergence of this letter and the declaration of the initial voters’ list, has said that the document was “forged” and was submitted as late as April 28, 2023. Justice Rao’s landmark order came much later, but it didn’t contain Azharuddin’s name among the barred officials.

Related: Justice Rao bars officials of 57 clubs from HCA elections

Justice Nageswara Rao inquiry

In the damning 46-page order, delivered on 31 July, Justice Nageswara Rao had come down heavily on the individuals and families who owned or administered multiple clubs. He barred all existing executive committee members of 57 clubs affiliated to the HCA from either voting or contesting for three years or one term, whichever was greater.

Among those barred were four of the six outgoing HCA office-bearers, who had been caught in the conflict-of-interest zone as they were managing multiple clubs. They were vice-president K John Manoj, secretary R Vijayanand, treasurer Surender Kumar Agarwal, and councillor P Anuradha.

The term of the HCA’s outgoing Apex Council ended on September 26, 2022. But due to the two prolonged inquiries, first by the Supervisory Committee and then by Justice Nageswara Rao, the elections were delayed.

The Supreme Court of India on 14 February appointed Justice Rao as the Single Member Committee to ensure that fair and proper elections were conducted to the Apex Council and to administer the affairs of the association.

Due to the absence of a properly elected Apex Council in the HCA, multiple bodies and administrators are supervising the ongoing World Cup matches.

Interview: I will contest HCA election, says Mohammed Azharuddin

(The writer has covered cricket for over three decades, based in Delhi. He tweets at @AlwaysCricket)