Hyderabad: Two emails sent by Justice Deepak Verma, former Judge of the Supreme Court gave an intriguing new twist to the affairs of the Hyderabad Cricket Association. The first email that was sent this morning by Justice Verma to the HCA President Mohammed Azharuddin spoke of his distress at the controversies raging within the Hyderabad Cricket Association. Justice Verma stated that he had received a communication from the Secretary R. Vijayanand about the appointment of two other judges for the post of Ombudsman and Ethics Officer.
“In the light of this huge controversy, please spare me. I do not wish to get involved in this politics between two factions. I hope you understand my difficulty,” wrote Justice Verma.
With that communication, it seemed that the most contentious issue that was causing an endless rift between the rival factions had been seemingly removed. But a few hours later Justice Verma clarified his stand further. Basically he stated in the second email that he would continue to be the Ombudsman of the HCA. However, he would not like to get involved with the tussle between the groups within the HCA.
In his second email he wrote: “In furtherance of the email sent by me, I would like to clarify that vide email dated 12.4.2021, I had assumed charge of Ombudsman of HCA. My previous email (of today) is not to be misinterpreted as I am still the Ombudsman of the HCA.”
“The purpose of writing the previous email was to let everyone know that I do not want to get involved in the politics and tussles between the two groups and also not to approach me if there is any conflict between the two groups. I am in no way a party to the dispute between the two factions and I urge everyone not to get me involved in all this. Both the factions are free to approach the Court of law and put their grievances before the Court. I have nothing to do with this conflict.
“I have reassumed charge as Ombudsman after going through the High Court order and after receiving an email dated 11.4.2021 from the President of the HCA and I intend to serve as Ombudsman till the time my tenure stands.”
“I would further like to clarify that I would not be in a position to travel to Hyderabad looking at the current situation. Therefore, if any hearing is to take place, the same can be done through online video conferencing.”
So now what remains to be seen is how Justice Verma’s stand will affect the functioning of the HCA.
HCA Vice President Mr. John Manoj speaking to siasat.com said that the appointment of the Ombudsman was the only major hurdle. “When we had the AGM, this was the sole hurdle. Azhar walked out on this issue. After we had agreed upon the previous points in the agenda the President left the meeting saying that it was over.”
It may be recalled that the HCA President Mohammed Azharuddin had left the AGM after announcing that Justice Deepak Verma would be the next Ombudsman cum Ethics Officer.
“It is high time that we settle these issues focus on the sport to take Hyderabad out of the mess that it is in nowadays. A few years ago I had brought in former Test cricketer and Indian team’s bowling coach Bharat Arun to guide our Ranji players and it had an immediate impact on our standards.”
“Now we should all get back to cricket for the sake of our young players and the fans who expect to see great things from our Hyderabad squads in various age groups. We must end this internal war of words and clean up the show by working together as a team,” opined John Manoj.
Now it remains to be seen if the HCA Vice President’s hopes and aims will come true in the future. For the good of the game it will be indeed a commendable development if the entire body of the HCA sinks its differences and builds up the standard of the sport in Hyderabad as efficiently and quickly as possible.
Abhijit Sen Gupta is a seasoned journalist who writes on Sports and various other subjects.