HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court heard a writ petition filed by three former presidents of the Hyderabad Cricket Association — N Shivalal Yadav, Arshad Ayub, and G Vinod, seeking to continue the process of conducting the election to the Apex Council of the HCA.
Senior counsel Madan Mohan Rao, who was representing the petitioners, informed the court that the situation of the Hyderabad Cricket Association was dire as it had no office-bearers managing its affairs as of July 4, 2021 (aside from its former president Mohd Azharuddin).
The petitioners also claimed that despite the fact that the Apex Council’s three-year term, as stipulated by its rules, ended on September 26, 2022, and all other members had signed a resolution calling for elections, Azharuddin alone was still opposing them on dubious grounds because of his ‘shady motivations’.
It was contended that since an Annual General Body Meeting was not held as per the rules of the HCA, to set the election process in motion, the general body members in exercise of their right to call for an election, held a Special General Body Meeting on December 11, last year and it was unanimously resolved to conduct elections to the Hyderabad Cricket Association at the earliest. The name of V Sampath Kumar Chief Election Officer, retired as election officer was unanimously approved by the General Body of Members.
In a letter dated December 16 last year, Vanka Prathap claimed, among other things, that the meeting was illegal and that V Sampath Kumar, a retired chief election officer, was not qualified to serve as an election officer. The unholy alliance between the former president Mohammed Azharuddin and Vanka Pratap, a member of the supervisory committee, undermined the democratic prerogative of the General Body Members to organise elections.
It was argued on behalf of the Hyderabad Cricket Association that the issue is pending and that the Court would receive pertinent documentation demonstrating this within a week. It was also argued that nothing prevented the members of the HCA from conducting the election if the challenged letter written by Vanka Pratap lacked legal standing.