Special Correspondent
If there’s anything more farcical than Hyderabad Cricket Association’s cricketing decline, it is the spectacle of its truncated apex council—a body that has become a byword for hypocrisy and legal absurdity.
The same members who once petitioned the Telangana High Court accusing the previous HCA regime of “reckless spending” and “financial impropriety,” now stand accused of identical misconduct. In a twist worthy of courtroom satire, those who played prosecutor have now become the accused.
This truncated council, led by Acting President Sardar Daljit Singh and Acting Secretary Basavaraju, was the very group that had earlier challenged former President Jaganmohan Rao, Secretary Devraj Ramchander, and Treasurer Srinivas. In that case, the court upheld their plea, directing the previous trio to refund misused amounts, including payments made to former India Test cricketer Venkatesh Prasad for consultancy services.
Ironically, the same Daljit-Basavaraju duo—along with elected EC member Sunil Aggarwal—now faces petitions before the very same High Court for committing identical offenses: unauthorized financial decisions, opaque fund disbursals, and unilateral functioning in clear violation of the HCA constitution. Adding a troubling layer of conflict, Surender Aggarwal’s son is listed among the U-23 team probables—a glaring overlap of “interest” and compromise within the truncated council.
Even more bizarre, the advocate who had represented them in the earlier case has now filed fresh petitions against them on behalf of aggrieved members. If this doesn’t cast serious doubt on the credibility of the process and expose the misuse of judicial recourse, what will? Judicial prudence demands consistency, not revolving-door litigation used to settle scores in a fractured association.
A former HCA secretary summed it up succinctly: “They screamed about transparency, accused others of corruption, and even distributed booklets of complaints to the media. Today, they stand exposed for doing exactly what they condemned. The High Court will soon see through their duplicity.”
The double standards are impossible to ignore. The same individuals who accused others of financial recklessness have allegedly released ₹5–6 lakh each to select clubs under the guise of “game promotion funds,” a move taken without proper authorization and in defiance of due process.
Even the designated bank of the HCA has been dragged into the controversy. Acting on what appears to be arbitrary instructions, the bank facilitated large-scale fund transfers just ahead of a sham AGM—a meeting that reportedly lasted only a few minutes and failed to address any substantive issue.
Following this, several clubs petitioned the Telangana High Court, terming the disbursal illegal. The court, while ordering recovery, found that while some banks complied and reversed the funds, others refused to return the money, citing account ownership by individual clubs. If proven, such conduct could constitute a breach of fiduciary responsibility, inviting not just disciplinary but potentially criminal proceedings.
It doesn’t end there. Legal experts point out that any decision to suspend members, release funds, or conduct AGMs must be taken by a full, legitimate apex council—not a self-proclaimed minority faction operating beyond its mandate. The truncated committee’s decisions could therefore be deemed ultra vires—beyond the powers conferred by the HCA constitution.
Calls are now growing within the cricketing fraternity for decisive action. Stakeholders have demanded that all signatories to the June 26 so-called executive council meeting, where the questionable decisions were taken, be barred for six years from contesting future elections. Such a step, they argue, can only be ratified in a properly convened AGM—not one manipulated to suit personal agendas.
The truth is undeniable: the Hyderabad Cricket Association has become a stage where personal egos, legal one-upmanship, and factional greed have replaced governance, transparency, and cricketing vision.
Many believe the onus now lies squarely on the High Court–appointed Supervisory Committee headed by Justice Naveen Rao, which was entrusted with the task of cleaning up the mess that has crippled the HCA. Yet, it is Justice Rao’s apparent inaction that has become the source of growing concern among stakeholders. The frustration is palpable. As one deeply disillusioned club secretary quipped, “What if the jailer chose to help a prisoner with a cellphone?” The analogy is telling. Despite being vested with absolute powers by the High Court, Justice Rao has so far refrained from cracking the whip on those responsible, forcing the aggrieved to once again knock on the very court that appointed him.
Until the courts and the BCCI step in to restore order, Hyderabad’s cricket will remain hostage to hypocrisy—a cruel joke on 216 clubs and thousands of aspiring cricketers who once believed that cricket, not corruption, was the HCA’s primary game.
