HYDERABAD: Chaos prevailed at the 85th deferred annual general body meeting (AGM) of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) on Sunday with the two rival groups appointing their own ombudsman, despite the Telangana high court upholding the appointment of Justice (retd) Deepak Verma as the ombudsman and ethics officer.
Shouting and heckling was the order of the day and it was no different from the meeting on March 28 as charges and counter-charges flew thick and fast over the appointment. While president Mohammed Azharuddin claimed to have ratified the appointment of Justice Verma as the ombudsman after putting the issue to voice vote, the other group led by vice-president John Manoj claimed they have appointed Justice (retd) Nisar Ahmed Kakru as the ombudsman after Azhar walked out of the meeting. Some members demanded the suspension of secretary R Vijayanand and others against whom the high court had passed severe strictures, leading to acrimonious scenes.
The situation turned for the worse with several members asking for a vote to be taken. President Azharuddin, who chaired the meeting, called for raising of hands and ratified the appointment, which didn’t go well with the opposition.
Azhar then closed the meeting and went out with his supporters. The aggrieved members continued with the meeting under the chairmanship of vice-president Manoj and made a few appointments of their own, including that of the ombudsman.
They appointed Justice (retd) Kakru, who was the chief justice of the AP High Court, as ombudsman and Justice (retd) T Meena Kumari, who was the first chief justice of the Meghalaya high court, as the ethics officer.
Their Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) will consist of MV Narasimha Rao, Shravanthi Naidu and Sudeep Tyagi. The members also appointed Ethesham Ali Khan as chairman of the Junior selection committee with Anwar Ahmed, Ashwin Yadav, Indrasekhar Reddy and Habeeb Ahmed as the other members. The Cricket Talent Committee will have Arshad Ayub, Noel David, Vivek Jaisimha and Diana David.
They also decided to send former BCCI interim president N Shivlal Yadav as HCA representative to the BCCI.
Azhar, however, was clear in his stand.
“Justice Verma will be the ombudsman of HCA. The members gave their assent by raising of hands as some members called for voting. The main contention was the appointment of Justice Verma and I assured the house that nothing untoward is going to happen. Whatever the rules are, he will follow it as he is a Supreme Court judge,” Azhar said after the meeting.
He also termed the meeting that continued after he left as illegal. “They are having another meeting as some members are not accepting the decision. But it is going to be an illegal meeting. Once I closed the meeting, it cannot be held again. They can have 100s of meetings and voting but nothing will change,” he said.
The president also asserted his right to represent HCA at the BCCI. “I am going as HCA representative to the board. Everything was done democratically like the appointment of the CAC comprising Venkatapathi Raju, Purnima Rau and Sudeep Tyagi. Only the selectors were not appointed. There were some unruly elements who tried to disrupt the meeting and alleged personal things which are not in good taste,” he added.
Countering Azhar, John Manoj, who was flanked by the other Apex Council members, said: “The president walked off from the meeting without completing the Agenda and making the appointments. Therefore, we continued with the meeting as a lot of decisions had to be taken. The members have approved the new appointments by an overwhelming majority. There were more than 120 members in the meeting even after Azhar left.”
John claimed the majority was on their side. “The majority is with us and they decided against Verma. We are going by the majority opinion and making new appointments. The secretary will send the report to the BCCI and let’s see what the board has to say. We will have to abide by what the board says.”
Azhar also said he will apprise the board of what happened at the AGM. “I will write everything to the BCCI. I will tell the officials whatever has happened till now. They (BCCI) are not very happy with what is going on in HCA as it is bringing disrepute to BCCI. It’s the BCCI which funds the association and hence they have every right to question us. I am ready to answer any question. If we continue to behave like this, we’ll get no funds. Then we will have to shut the association.”