Vivekanand challenges order that deemed he held ‘office of profit’ and had ‘conflict of interest’.
New Delhi: The former president of the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has approached the Supreme Court, challenging his ouster by the association’s ombudsman.
The move comes after a division bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court had on 12 June set aside a single judge order that had stayed the ombudsman’s disqualification of G. Vivekanand.
The ombudsman, Justice L. Narasimha Reddy (retd), had deemed G. Vivekanand ineligible for the president’s post on grounds of ‘conflict of interest’ and ‘office of profit’.
The ombudsman, appointed by the HCA as per the provisions of the Lodha Committee report, had ruled that there was a “clear conflict of interest” as Visakha Industries, in which Vivekanand is a director, has a “commercial contract” with the HCA.
He further stated that as Vivekanand was also the advisor to the Telangana government, it amounted to holding an ‘office of profit.’
Challenges ombudsman’s jurisdiction
In his plea before the Supreme Court, Vivekanand has submitted that the high court “erred in law by failing to consider that the ombudsman-cum-ethics officer had no jurisdiction” to decide on the issues.
He has further contended that ‘conflict of interest’ should be in the “direction of necessarily and directly affecting the game of cricket”. This, the petition adds, includes aspects of the game such as “the selection process of players, transparency of selection, and the performance of players… It is further submitted that such conflict with the game of cricket is non-existent in the case of the petitioner.”
The former HCA offical has also argued that the disqualification on the office of profit is “an aspect found in the rules dealing with the apex council (the BCCI).”
He added that even though he was appointed as an adviser with the state of Telangana, “it merely confers the status of a cabinet minister,” and that he is neither a minister in the Telangana cabinet “nor is he a government servant”.
“Even though the salary was provided to the petitioner initially, that clause was removed later on 17.2.2017, with only the benefits such as house rent allowance, vehicle allowance and driver salary etc. retained,” the petition reads.
Advocate Sriram Parakkat, representing Vivekananda in the top court, alleged that by bypassing the proper statutory forum and instead, directly filing a plea in the high court, the complainants had indulged in forum shopping.
‘Azhar files conflict of interest complaint’
The conflict of interest charge against Vivekanand was based on complaints filed by former Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, MLA V. Hanumantha Rao and C. Babu Rao between November 2017 and January 2018.
Following this, the ombudsman on 3 March, 2018, concluded that “a clear conflict of interest existed” due to Visakha Industries having a contract with the HCA. The ombudsman also cited the government appointment to rule that Vivekanand stood disqualified from holding office.