Ombudsman reinstates Mohammed Azharuddin as Hyderabad cricket president

The Hyderabad Cricket Association HCA Ombudsman on Sunday ordered that Mohammed Azharuddin would continue to be its president after setting aside a resolution by five officebearers of the association that had lsquosuspended him last monthThe ruling of the HCA Ombudsman retired justice Deepak Verma came on a complaint filed by former India captain Azharuddin challenging the June 15 show cause notice issued to him by five HCA officebearers vicepresident John Manoj secretary R Vijayanand joint secretary Naresh Sharma treasurer Surender Agarwal and councillor P AnuradhaThe apex council had given a fivepage notice to Azharuddin alleging various acts of misdemeanour and also cancelled his HCA membership until an inquiry which they said would be initiated was over The council had given Azharuddin seven days to reply to the notice dated June 15In his Sundays order Justice Verma referred to the state of affairs at the HCA as disturbed circumstances and atmosphere and wondered whether former Test cricketers who have become members of their respective state cricket associations following certain Supreme Court judgments could be suspended at allThe membership of such distinguished personalities is in effect an honorary permanent membership and as such cannot be taken away on the behest of a few members of an apex council read the orderhelliphe Azharuddin has further complained that he was suspended only as a counterblast to his various objections to the kind of functioning by the other officebearers and cited various details it saidJustice Verma said Azharuddin would continue as the HCA presidentTherefore 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 Shri Mohd Azharuddin Therefore I direct that Sh Mohd Azharuddin shall continue as president and all complaints against officebearers shall only be decided by the Ombudsman he said in his orderAlso ReadMithali Raj on criticism of her strike rate I donrsquot look to please peopleFrom the aforesaid facts and features it is clearly reflected that instead of encouraging the game of cricket each one is playing their sic own politics for the reasons best known to them Thus it defeats the very purpose for which HCA has been formed read the orderAmong the allegations levelled against Azharuddin is that he had failed to disclose that he was a mentor of a private cricket club in Dubai that allegedly competes in tournaments not recognised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India thus raising a conflict of interest issueAnother allegation is that Azharuddin had tried to stall all the financial transactions and commitments of the HCA by sending a letter to the Canara Bank with which the association has an accountAfter his suspension Azharuddin on June 17 had held a press conference in Hyderabad and alleged that the same five members of the nineman HCA apex council had ganged up against himAzharuddin had also recalled a corruption case pertaining to the international stadium that the HCA had built in Uppal on the outskirts of Hyderabad The AntiCorruption Bureau of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh state had launched an inquiry into the unusually high cost incurred on building the stadiumWe are also aware that four of these members were named in a chargesheet outlining allegations of severe corruption All their attempts to escape the arm of law by adopting technical strategies have been defeated and very soon justice will prevail Azharuddin had saidAlso ReadlsquoBalanced wellequippedrsquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever