New Delhi: Former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin plans to approach the Telangana High Court, seeking to stay in the order of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) inspector to remove his name from the North Stand of Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Justice (Retd) v. Eswaraiah v. Eswaraiah, who is also an ethics official of the HCA, was a decision based on a petition filed by one of the HCA’s member units, which claimed that Azharuddin had abused the then-HCA presidency, when he was the post of the HCA president.
The petition says veterans of 99 tests and 334 ODIs violated HCA rules and sat at a meeting of the Supreme Committee, and the former HCA president named it North Stand’s resolution just a month after he became the head of the association.
Under the HCA Constitution, general institutions need to approve resolutions.
“I will definitely resort to legal action and will call on the High Court to continue this order. Unfortunately, the name of the Indian captain is to be removed.”
The former Indian captain also questioned the validity of the Ombudsman order, saying his term was over.
“Under the Association’s bylaws, the term of office of the Ombudsman/Ethics Officer is one year. In this case, the term of office of the Ombudsman has been terminated on 18 February 2025, and any orders adopted after this period are invalid.”
“He has not expanded yet and can only be given at the shareholders’ annual meeting. So how does he pass the order.”
Azharuddin claimed he was targeting because some HCA officials could not indulge in corruption during their presidency.
He was elected president of the HCA in September 2019 and ended in September 2023. During his controversial term, the Supreme Court appointed a single-person judicial committee, L Nageswara Rao committee to manage the affairs of the association in February 2023.
The opposition said people associated with Azaruddin were involved in the selection scandal of the age group team, a strong denial of the former cricketer who scored more than 15,000 in international cricket matches.
“Crooks never held the bat’s finger and pointed at me. If they wanted to remove my name from the stands, the one who played 433 games for India, then you might as well delete Shivlal Yadav’s (former Indian sideline) name, just like he did when he was the president of the HCA.
“You took down the names of Abid Ali, Tiger Pataudi and Ml Jaisimha. It’s an association that disrespects players. And on whose petition, the ombudsman is performing? The Lords Cricket Club has no regard for who is the real owner and who runs it,” he said.
Another allegation is the removal of VVS Laxman’s name from the North Stand and named it.
He clarified: “I was stupid, removing legends like Laxman’s name from the stands, the only one who has played 100 tests from our area? In the North Stand, the gazebo is named after Laxman and it’s still there and you can check it out.”
When contacted with HCA officials about why Azharuddin and Shivlal had separate rules, he replied: “If Shiv, he played a role in establishing this stadium, and after proper approval of the HCA general institution, he got the name in the stands.”
“If Azhar, he never approached the entire institution because he knew he had no numbers to approve it.”
Azaruddin also launched TIRADE for HCA President Jagan Mohan Rao.
“This is an association and don’t know how to respect its stars. See how the Sunrisers in Hyderabad harass the extra free tickets and BCCI has to step in. This has happened since I’ve raised questions about its function, but I won’t put these insults down.” He warned. ”
