Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Thursday suspended an order of the Ombudsman & Ethics Officer of the Hyderabad Cricket Association in disqualifying HCA president G. Vivekanand and secretary T. Sheshnarayan from their respective posts.
The Ombudsman recently disqualified Vivekananda on account of a commercial contract between M/s Visakha Industries, of which he is a Director, and HCA. Vivek was also disqualified on account of his appointment as an Advisor to Government.
Sheshnarayan was disqualified as his name figured as an accused in charge-sheets. Justice A. V. Sesha Sai while dealing with the separate petitions of both, granted interim order suspending the operation of order of the Ombudsman till further orders.
Mr P. Sri Raghuram, senior counsel appearing for Vivekanand submitted that when the Ombudsman found that the petitioner has conflict of interest then he can suggest for rectification and he cannot disqualify the petitioner on the sole ground of conflict of interest.
He said that the petitioner was appointed as advisor to the State government much prior to his election as president of the HCA. Vivek contends there is no conflict of interest and that Visakha Industries signed the sponsorship deal with HCA much before the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium was constructed; the contract was terminated by the HCA and that they were deprived of their in-stadia rights before the Arbitration Tribunal granted them an award, which is yet to be settled.
Mr Surya Satish, counsel for Sheshnarayan, submitted that figuring of the petitioner’s name in a chargesheet cannot bar him from holding the post of Secretary unless and until he is found guilty by the court. While grating the interim order, the judge directed the respondents to file their counter affidavits.
Meanwhile, Hyderabad Cricket Association’s chief executive officer refuted reports that the HCA did not seek BCCI’s permission to conduct the recent G. Venkataswamy Memorial Telangana T20 League. “The HCA took written permission from BCCI,” Dr Murthy said in a statement while listing out chronological order of steps taken — permission of HCA general body, approval of Apex Council, mail to BCCI seeking support and permission and the subsequent go-ahead.
In fact, “Mr Dheeraj Malhotra of the BCCI’s Anti-Corruption Unit oversaw operations and appreciated the HCA,” Dr Murthy said.
