HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president Mohd Azharuddin's move to give the responsibilities of the five suspended Apex Council members to the non-elected members hasn't found success as both the representatives of the players' panel have rejected the offer. The move has also not gone down well with the members of the cricket association.
It is learnt that Parth Satwalkar and Subhadra Suri declined to take up the additional charge during an Apex Council meeting held on Tuesday. It is also learnt that CAG nominee Santosh Daware did not attend the meeting.
Azharuddin, in his circular dated July 4, said: "Due to the temporary vacancy created by the disqualification of the above members (K John Manoj, R Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal and P Anuradha) and to ensure the continuity of administration in the HCA, I, Mohammed Azharuddin, president-HCA, in exercise of the powers vested in me under Rule 7(1)(d), hereby assign additional charge to the following members of the Apex Council."
The circular said that Satwalkar will hold additional charge of Councillor, Suri will have additional charge of vice-president and joint secretary, Daware will have charge of treasurer. Azharuddin has given himself the additional charge of secretary. "The above individuals will hold additional charge w.e.f 4 July 2021 until further notice," Azhar stated.
"It has not been finalized yet. We have to get the consent of the people. The process is on. I have to ensure that there is no break in the administration. I never break the rules. It is unfortunate that people, who have ruined the association in the last 20 years, are speaking about rules etc. Starting of the league matches too is fraught with dangers because the threat of Covid-19 hasn't gone. There is a strong talk about the third wave and we have to be very careful. If something untoward happens, we could end up behind the bars," Azharuddin said on Tuesday.
"The president thinks he only knows English. He doesn't read the sentences properly. The same rule that he quotes says, ‘the president shall, in the event of a vacancy or indisposition of an office-bearer, delegate the functions to another office-bearer until the vacancy is duly filled up, or the indisposition ceases.' Are the nominated members of the Apex Council office-bearers? If they are not, how can they be given additional duties of the elected members," HCA vice-president K John Manoj told ToI on Tuesday.
"I am only interested in cricket. I want the teams to play cricket and my focus has been on preparing for the league season. I have challenged Azhar to come for a debate on the matter. If he is really interested in cricket, he should not tamper with the cricket season," Manoj said.
Former secretary PR Man Singh said it was difficult to say much on the issue as the Constitution is silent on such a contingency. "No provision has been made for such a matter in the HCA's new bye-laws. So one can say Azhar's move is constitutional as well as unconstitutional. Justice (retd) RM Lodha too may not have foreseen such a situation where five office-bearers are suspended at a time. The HCA should amend its constitution to provide a remedy for such a situation," he said.
Another former secretary T Shesh Narayan said the move was a disaster. "How on earth can the CAG nominee be given additional charge of treasurer? He is a government employee and the Lodha recommendations are very clear about it. Azhar has made a bad move," he said.
"No club secretary will support Azhar on this matter. This is against the constitution. No nominated member can be given additional charge. What was the hurry in assigning additional duties to the other members? Azhar could have waited till a final decision was made," said former joint secretary S Venkateswaran. "The game, on the field and off the field, should always be played by the rules."
Season starts with a T20 tourney from July 12
In a related development, the Apex Council, chaired by Azharuddin, decided to start the cricket season 2021 with the Tiger Cup T20 tournament. This is in line with the BCCI calendar schedule for 2021 that starts with the Syed Mushtaq Ali T 20 Trophy. "All club secretaries & players are requested to take note and prepare accordingly. The tournament will start from 12.07.2021 (i.e Monday). Forms and draws can be collected from COT Dept Ground floor at RGICS, Uppal, from 07.07.2021 10 am to 6 pm onwards. Last date of submission of forms is 10.07.2021 6 pm," says a HCA note.
"All club secretaries, players & match officials of HCA are hereby reminded that the Tiger Cup T20 tournament is the officially recognized tournament of HCA for now. Any other match/matches organized by any other individual/group of individuals/ disqualified members is deemed to be without authority, shall be treated as a private match & performances will not be taken on the record by HCA and necessary action will be taken in line with Rule 16," it says.
