Former India captain Mohammed Azharuddin has been reinstated as the President of the Hyderabad Cricket Association by the order of the Ombudsman of HCA Justice (retd) Deepak Verma. Justice Verma termed the removal of Azharuddin as President of HCA by the Apex Council of the Association as illegal and unlawful.
The Ombudsman also temporarily disqualified the HCA Apex Council members K John Manoj, Vice President, R Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal, Anuradha till the time they prove the complaints against them attain finality.
"Apex Council on its own accord cannot take such a decision. Therefore, 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, Mohammed Azharuddin," Justice (retd) Verma was quoted as saying by PTI.
"Therefore, I direct that Mohammed Azharuddin shall continue as President and all complaints against office bearers shall only be decided by the Ombudsman,” Justice Verma added in his decision.
Since the Apex Council did not follow the due procedure and used power not vested to them and also failed to recognise Justice Verma as the Ombudsman even after a High Court order, the members were disqualified till further notice.
“It is clear from the above, that these members have malafide intentions and do not want smooth functioning of HCA. I hereby direct that these members are temporarily disqualified from performing their duties as office bearers of the Apex Council till the time these Complaints attain finality," the Ombudsman said.
Azharuddin, who played more than 300 ODIs for India and has been HCA President for a long was unceremoniously removed by a meeting of the Apex Council on June 17. He challenged that order later on.