HCA Accused of Corruption in Players' Selection, Ticket Sale

Hyderabad: Cricket in Hyderabad has turned into a money-minting machine for a few administrators, who allegedly entered the Hyderabad Cricket Association through dubious means.

They have allegedly made tens of crores or rupees by selecting four to five times more players than the stipulated for 15-member teams for the Under-14, Under-16, Under-19, Under-23 tournaments as well as the three different formats of the senior-level matches.

A person who has played just seven matches was made chairman of the seniors selection committee, ignoring a veteran of 97 matches. As against the mandate that selection committee members for the junior teams should have played at least 25 first-class matches, the panel chairman had played less than 25 matches, former HCA president Mohd Azharuddin told Deccan Chronicle.

The issue of irregularities in the selection of players, sale of tickets and awarding work contracts without inviting tenders have dented the image of the cricket body, lovers of the game feel. This is seen as a fall-out of the controversies over the election of the HCA leadership.

The election of Jagan Mohan Rao as the president of the HCA is said to be against the National Sports Code due to a conflict of interest, specified in Chapter 8 of the BCCI constitution. He is also the president of the Handball Association, which is a recognised body of Indian Olympic Association.

As per the National Sports Code, he should not be an office-bearer of any other sports body including that of cricket.

Prominent personalities like Sharad Pawar, N. Srinivasan and Anurag Thakur have been barred from holding a position in cricket associations on the grounds of conflict of interest, age bar, and political positions, business interests, said Dharam Guruva Reddy, secretary of Telangana Cricket Association (TCA). “Why are the conflict of interest and violation of National Sports Code not applicable to Jagan Mohan Rao,” he asked.

Jagan Mohan Rao, who has never played cricket, has no right to continue in office,said Guruva Reddy, adding that the HCA president had close family connections with BRS leaders K.T. Rama Rao, and some HCA stalwarts.

The TCA secretary said Jagan Mohan Rao’s election was not valid since 57 clubs out of 217 were disqualified to vote or play cricket by the Supreme Court-appointed committee led by Justice L. Nageshwar Rao, as a group of families were operating multiple clubs and memberships.

However, the similar clause was not applied to 15 other clubs which escaped disqualification and voted in the previous HCA election. Jagan Mohan Rao won with a single vote, said Guruva Reddy.

The banning of Azharuddin, the former HCA president, was against the recommendations of the Justice R.M. Lodha committee which stated that those who had played international cricket enjoyed membership and voting rights in the respective state body by default for a lifetime, Guruva Reddy said

Out of 217 members of HCA, 208 live in and operate from Hyderabad. The other nine have their address in the districts, but physically operate in Hyderabad. The HCA does not have any representation from the districts to involve in talent hunt and promote rural cricket, he said.

It neither has a system, BCCI-compliant infrastructure nor selectors or qualified coaches in the districts, Guruva Reddy said. The selection of HCA teams for BCCI tournaments does not have a transparent system. “There is huge demand from the TCA for the recognition of the BCCI as a separate state body to represent the districts in cricket,” Guruva Reddy said.

Ignoring the pending directive from the BCCI to work with the TCA which represents the districts, the HCA had misguided the national cricket body stating that it would start spending `15 lakh for each district, bypassing Telangana Cricket Association, Guruva Reddy claimed.

He alleged that the HCA had adopted the `pay and play model’, using the Sports Authority of India facility in 30 centres by collecting huge amounts from young players in the recent summer camps, which are supposed to be free of cost. The TCA had conducted free summer camps in 64 centres across the state, Guruva Reddy said.