Cricketers in Hyderabad welcome SC appointment of Justice Rao to clean up the mess

For too long Hyderabad cricket has traveled along a dark tunnel. There seemed to be no end to the journey and even the BCCI was unable to find a solution. But now with the Supreme Court having appointed Justice L. Nageswara Rao to clean up the mess and conduct elections, there is light visible at the end of the tunnel. There is hope that the mismanagement and malpractices under the present dispensation headed by Md. Azharuddin will end.

Justice Nageswara Rao will oversee the conduct of the elections and this step has been welcomed by many players and officials as well as the fans. Earlier supervisory body which had Justice Kakru as its head was tied up in various problems. This time a single member committee has been appointed. Everybody hopes that there will be a positive outcome. Justice Rao who hails from Hyderabad was a cricketer himself and knows the inside stories of the HCA. The cricket players and fans of Hyderabad certainly deserve a better deal than the one they have been given for the last three years.

Former international cricketer and Hyderabad’s ex-captain Arshad Ayub is optimistic that the problems will be solved. He told siasat.com “I think that for Hyderabad cricket this announcement is like a second independence day. We are at last free of the shackles that had imprisoned us. The supervisory committee which was earlier appointed by the Supreme Court tried to get things done but it faced several difficulties.”

“The reason why I am more hopeful is because Justice Nageswara Rao was himself a cricket player. He knows the situation inside the HCA and understands what has to be done. Plus, his job is clear cut. He has to conduct and oversee the election process. He is an experienced person and I think that we are going to see some real progress this time,” said Arshad.

Former HCA secretary S. Venkateswaran was elated. “It is a huge positive step. A lot of spadework has already been done. I can definitely state that from here onwards things will go well and I am sure that many clubs will agree with me about this. But before conducting the elections, a proper voters list has to be drawn up. This could be a messy task because so many new clubs have cropped up. However, there is a precedent which was set during the conduct of the previous HCA elections by V S Sampath Kumar, former Chief Election Commissioner. His work can serve as the base this time,” Venkat explained.

“The other task before Justice Rao is to go into the financial irregularities. Shivlal Yadav has said that for three years the accounts have not been submitted. Earlier, the BCCI never used to release grants to the state bodies unless the audited accounts were submitted. I don’t know why they have decided to overlook this important rule in the case of the HCA. Imagine how many crore must have gone into the pockets of corrupt elements,” said Venkat.

It may be recalled that Sports Minister V. Srinivas Goud had said recently that the state government would not hesitate to take back the land given to HCA for the Uppal stadium and would run the stadium on its own if required. If the Supreme Court’s latest move bears fruit, that situation may not arise. The mood is upbeat. But a clear outcome is could be assessed what transpires in the next three or four months.