HYDERABAD: A division bench of Telangana High Court comprising of Judges A Rajasekhar Reddy and Shameem Akthar stayed the ruling by a single HC judge on the suspension of five Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) officials. These five officials were suspended by the HCA ombudsman Justice Deepak Varma and this suspension was challenged in front of a single judge who had stayed the order. The lifting of suspension by the single judge was challenged in the High Court that revoked the lifting of suspension. These officials include HCA secretary Vijayanand and four other office bearers.
The court also directed the apex council of the HCA not to take any key decisions for the next 10 days. The league matches will however be carried out as per schedule. The court also directed both the parties to go before the single judge and argue the main case on Aug 23. The bench disposed the appeal. Aggrieved by the orders of ombudsman, HCA Vice-President K John Manoj had approached the High Court. After hearing the petitioner, High Court’s single judge granted interim stay.
Challenging the order, HCA President Mohd Azharuddin appealed to division bench. On behalf of Azharuddin , Senior council B Adinarayana Rao argued that as per the apex council decision, HCA president Azharuddin had written a letter to Justice Varma stating that he was being appointed as the ethics officer-cum-ombudsman for a period of one year for which Varma agreed. The appointment of Justice Varma was challenged by “Buddy Star Cricket club” and was dismissed by the lower court. When this was challenged in the HC, the latter upheld the appointment of ombudsman.