Hyderabad: The affairs of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) seem to be getting more complicated by the day. Much of the confrontation arises from the fact that there is a lack of communication between the embattled parties. Now, to compound its problems, even small traces of teamwork within the HCA have completely disappeared.
The latest point of argument between the President Mohammed Azharuddin and his rival group which is headed by the Secretary R. Vijayanand has arisen from the fact that a CEO has been appointed to the HCA. The Lodha Committee recommendations stipulate that every state body must have a CEO and this move was carried out for the purpose of complying with the recommendations.
The CEO who has been appointed by the Apex Council is Mr Suneel Kante who has taken charge in the presence of the Vice President John Manoj, Secretary R. Vijayanand, Joint Secretary Naresh Sharma and Treasurer Surender Agarwal. But immediately after assuming office, he faced his first salvo from the other side.
President Azharuddin contended that the appointment was illegal and invalid. He stated that the move suffered from procedural infirmities. Using very strong words Azhar described the deed as a means to reduce the Apex Council to a proprietorship concern. Azhar stated that the appointment did not comply with the Rule 23 (1) of the constitution.
He further explained, “I have not been consulted nor have I assessed any candidate to confirm if he meets the rules of the HCA’s constitution. There is an in-house procedure that needs to be set up for appointing the CEO. This entails setting up an interview panel, recording interview feedback by the interviewer, maintaining them as a record, then convening a full meeting of the Apex council to consider the name of the short listed candidates and finally selecting one of them with clearly recorded reasons for the selection. None of this was followed,” said Azhar.
It now remains to be seen which way these twists and turns will go. The quagmire that the HCA has sunk into is a deep one and it looks unlikely that the problems will be sorted out in the near future. The outlook of Hyderabad cricket seems gloomy due to the constant tussles going on within the state body.
Abhijit Sen Gupta is a seasoned journalist who writes on Sports and various other subjects.