HYDERABAD: In a major relief for the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) just ahead of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, the Telangana High Court on Friday ordered the unfreezing of the bank account of the cricket body, allowing it to resume financial operations, albeit with certain conditions.
A bench, comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice NV Shravan Kumar, heard a plea filed by Justice L Nageswara Rao, administrator and former Supreme Court judge overseeing the HCA, challenging the order of a trial court freezing all the cricket body’s assets, including the Uppal stadium and its bank account. Earlier, the trial court, adjudicating an Execution of Property (EP) petition filed by Visaka Industries, had ordered freezing of all assets of the HCA.
Visaka Industries, formerly led by G Vivekananda, had alleged that the HCA breached a development agreement, while the association contended that Vivekananda sought unwarranted gains without fulfilling his obligations. Counsel for Visakha Industries had informed the court that despite multiple notices to the HCA administrator and several opportunities given to the HCA to file its counter, the association failed to act.
The HCA informed the court that the agreement had been terminated some time ago, and the matter was adjudicated by a commercial court which issued an ex parte order awarding Rs 40 crore to Visaka Industries. HCA’s efforts to have the arbitral award set aside proved futile. Subsequently, another trial court, acting on Vivekananda’s execution plea, issued the asset attachment orders.
Consequently, the trial court froze the assets and bank account, and no stay order was obtained since 2016. Counsel for Visakha Industries told the bench that over seven years had passed since the order of the commercial court, and at least three-fourths of the decreed amount had not been paid.
To this, counsel for the HCA assured the court that 50% of the decreed amount would be paid within six months. Counsel also highlighted that Hyderabad was scheduled to host two World Cup matches and requested the court to unfreeze the HCA’s properties and bank accounts to make necessary arrangements for these cricket matches.
After considering the arguments from both sides, the bench ordered the unfreezing of HCA’s bank account while ordering the association to pay Rs 17.5 crore (50% of the decreed amount) within six weeks.The HCA was also prohibited from creating any third-party interests in its immovable and movable properties. The bench adjourned the civil revision and lunch motion petition for six weeks.