Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 6: The High Court has issued notice to Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) and sought reply for holding elections to the District Association as various clubs submitted before the court that the exercise by the JKCA is in contrary to law.
Hearing an application filed by one of the clubs through its representative Iqbal Ahamd Shah seeking direction from the court that JKCA be restrained from holding elections for JKCA and forbearing from changing the constituents of JKCA, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Puneet Gupta sought reply from JKCA by tomorrow.
Advocate Mohsin Qadri has moved an application and submitted before the Court that JKCA is proceeding ahead with JKCA elections and changing the constituents of Association which is contrary to the law. The DB issued notice in the application which has been accepted by Association Counsel in open court. Court directed Advocate Qadri to furnish the copy of said application to him to file the response before the next date.
JKCA counsel submitted before the DB that the elections to the District Associations have already been conducted except for District Association Samba and there is no proposal for or notification with regard to holding of elections to the JKCA. It is as per guidelines provided by Lodha penal, administrators and CEO with BCCI is required to incorporate recommendations of the Lodha committee in the rules of Association and then to conduct the election of JKCA in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Lodha Committee.
The Senior Counsel R A Jan also submitted before the bench that the entire action of holding the elections to District Associations is contrary to law. However, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already informed the court that elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) are required to be urgently held and the BCCI is indenting to file an application in this connection before the court taking several issues relating thereto.
The JKCA is without elected body since May 2017 and its affairs are observed and conducted by the two administrators and a CEO appointed by the court to ensure free and fair elections of JKCA as the term of JKCA has expired in the month of May 2017 and in view of inter-se dispute between the office bearers and two factions (Abdullah faction & Ansari faction) who were fighting various cases and claim the genuine association of JKCA.
Justice CK Prasad retired Judge of the Supreme Court and Justice Syed Rafat Alam Chief Justice of MP are the administrators of the J&K Cricket Association and Chief Executive Officer Ashiq Hussain Bukhari (retired DIG). Court on July 2018 had directed them to run the affairs of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association till elections of the Association are held.
The High Court had kept pending the bunch of petitions regarding various disputes of the Association in view of pendency of an appeal (SLP) before the apex court of the country but the court has been informed the Apex Court has modified its earlier order dated 14.3.2010 as such there is no impediment to this Court for entertaining or hearing this writ petitions as has been done in the case titled Delhi District Cricket Association versus Sudhir Kumar Aggarwal and others as well. Supreme Court on 14.3.2019 had directed that till amicus curaie submits a report it desirable that no court/tribunal in India shall entertain or proceed with any matter pertaining to BCCI or any State Cricket Association(s) involved.
Various clubs through the medium of the various writ petitions seeking quashment of decision dated 29.10.2019 passed by nominated Ombudsman, J&K Cricket Association, on the ground that the impugned decision is beyond the scope of the reference made by the Division Bench of the court in a common order passed on 06.12.2017. The case of various clubs before High Court that the decision of the ombudsman being beyond the reference of the order of the court is not only bad in law but also against the principle of court directions.
The Supreme Court has already directed that all office bearers of BCCI and its affiliated state associations which fail to meet the norms recommended by the Lodha Committee as accepted by Apex Court shall forthwith demit and cease to hold the office.
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