Hyderabad Cricket Association team will shrink to 14

Hyderabad: The 23-member team of officials at the Hyderabad Cricket Association will be trimmed ironically to cricket’s equivalent of a 14-man squad after Monday’s Supreme Court order that is binding on the Board of Control for  Cricket in India and its affiliated associations.

President Arshad Ayub; vice-presidents P. Yadagiri and Syed Moizuddin; executive committee members Victor Amalraj and M. Srinivas Reddy would have to demit office as per the apex court’s order, a copy of which is with this newspaper.

Arshad and Yadagiri lose their posts by virtue of serving as office-bearers for a cumulative period of nine years. The SC order also bars government servants from taking up positions in the cricket bodies, which rules out Moizuddin, Victor Amalraj and M. Srinivas Reddy — Victor is an employee with the Food Corporation of India; Srinivas Reddy works for the Office of the Director of Factories, Telangana while Moizuddin is on the rolls of Telangana Government’s District Insurance Office in Hyderabad.

Point No.25 (i) of the SC order says “All the office bearers of BCCI and of its affiliated State Associations who fail to meet the norms recommended by the (Lodha) Committee and accepted by this Court, shall forthwith demit and cease to hold office namely:

“A person shall be disqualified from being an Office Bearer if he or she:
(a) Is not a citizen of India;
(b) Has attained the age of 70 years;
(c) Is declared to be insolvent, or of unsound mind;
(d) Is a Minister or government servant;
(e) Holds any office or post in a sports or athletic association or federation apart from cricket;
(f) Has been an Office Bearer of the BCCI for a cumulative period of 9 years;
(g) Has been charged by a Court of Law for having committed any criminal offence.”

With five officials falling to SC order and four others serving suspension for disciplinary reasons, HCA’s current committee stands at 14 and faces an uphill task of hosting a Test match (India vs Bangladesh) from February 9.

Local cricket circles were abuzz on Tuesday and amid speculation as well as doubts flying thick and fast, senior vice-president M. Narender Goud was tipped to occupy the HCA hot seat.

Arshad is said to be out of station and is scheduled to be in the city on Wednesday when he would be informed of the SC ruling for further action, according to sources.

“An executive committee meeting has to be called at the earliest and members made aware of the order before business can be transacted,” an office-bearer, who did not wish to be quoted, told this paper.

Some members sought clarity on the order though. “The nine-year rule is for those holding posts in the BCCI and may not be applicable to State Associations,” one EC member opined.

“Even otherwise, the HCA constitution will have to be amended first to execute the SC order. On what grounds can (president) Arshad be asked to vacate his chair?” he questioned, adding, “We will wait for the BCCI meeting scheduled for January 18 and see how it goes.”

The nine-years-only-in-office rule in the SC order also marks the end of the road for some heavyweights in HCA politics such as N. Shivlal Yadav, M. V. Sridhar, G. Vinod and D. S. Chalapathi,  who have held different positions at the HCA offices over the years.