Officials belonging to the Telangana Cricket Association (TCA) lashed out at the mismanagement within the Hyderabad Cricket Association and called for strict action to be taken against the latter. They demanded that the Apex Council of the HCA should be dissolved and a panel headed by former Supreme Court judge L. Nageswara Rao and some members of the TCA be formed to run the show.
At a press conference on Friday, Y. Laxmi Narayana Reddy, President of the TCA, appealed to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to immediately initiate action against the HCA and weed out the malady of corruption in the association in the interest of the cricket players in the state of Telangana.
Another TCA official Dharam Guruva Reddy said that the urgent dissolution of the HCA’s Apex Council was required because the HCA had repeatedly ignored the recommendations of the Supreme Court-appointed judges to rectify the functioning of the body.
“Even after Justice Nageswara Rao barred 57 voting members of the HCA on grounds of conflict of interest, the very same clubs were re-inducted into the system by the current HCA President Jagan Mohan Rao. It is a shocking state of affairs and is ruining cricket in this region,” he said.
Forensic audit exposed fraud
“The forensic audit reports of the HCA from the past few years have exposed almost 300 fraudulent transactions amounting to about ₹9.61 crore under different heads with fake addresses and improper documents,” the official added.
It was disclosed that there are several cases of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) pending against more than 40 members of the HCA. The fact that the incumbent Apex Council had not taken any follow up action on the FIRs filed against the previous office-bearers was an indication that such things are being allowed to be committed with impunity according to the TCA officials.
Sub-leasing of clubs
“The worst thing for cricket in the state is the fact that the affiliated clubs of the HCA are being given on sub-leases to individuals, including cricket academies. All these things are being done with the sole objective of making money,” Guruva Reddy said.
Although the HCA has shown on paper that a sum of Rs 20 lakh was spent for improving cricket infrastructure, nothing is visible at the ground-level. Money is being looted daily and the BCCI must take action against the HCA, said the TCA officials.
It is learnt that earlier, in a letter to the Chief Justice of India, Nagabushanam a senior advocate of the High Court of Telangana had also brought up the question of disrespect towards the law by the HCA and the financial irregularities amounting to crores of rupees. All these incidents are damaging the image and the interests of cricket throughout the state and it is the players who are suffering.
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