The High Court on Monday put on hold proposed elections of the office bearers of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) even as it said the court appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) only shall look into the routine day to day affairs of the Association till final decision in the matter.
A division bench of Justice Ali Muhammad Magrey and Justice Puneet Gupta passed these directions while reserving judgment on various appeals and related applications.
“Meanwhile, till the final decision in the matter, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) so appointed by this Court shall only look into the routine day to day affairs of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA); besides, the conduct of the proposed elections of the office bearers of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) shall also remain in abeyance,” the court said.
The court reserved the judgment on a bunch of appeals filed by aggrieved City Cricket Club, Srinagar and others against a single bench judgment which had upheld the amendment made by the administers to constitution of JKCA.
Meanwhile, the bench put the counsel for the parties at liberty to submit their written arguments, if not already done, by Monday.
While the appellants were represented by senior advocates R A Jan, Jahangir Iqbal Ganai, Mohsin Qadri and others, the respondents were represented by senior advocates Sunil Sethi, Z A Shah and B A Bashir.
Senior advocate Sunil Sethi appearing for Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) argued that the court appointed administrators of JKCA with CEO were obliged to amend the constitution of JKCA in conformity with the Lodha Panel, senior advocate B A Bashir said the administers had repealed the constitution of JKCA and replaced it by a new one.
Advocate Sethi said the Administrators as also the CEO are running the affairs of JKCA in contrast to the basic spirit of direction contained in the division bench judgment of J&k High Court and the orders of Supreme court.
A number of litigations in different courts were filed by two factions- one headed by Dr Farooq Abdullah and another led by Imran Raza Ansari- from 2015 claiming to be the office bearers of JKCA.
The Division Bench while deciding the matters in October 2017 had appointed an ombudsman for settlement of disputes among the clubs and JKCA and apart from appointment of two Administrators C K Prasad, a retired Supreme Court Judge and Syed Rafat Alam the then Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh had appointed Ashiq Hussain Bukhari a retired IPS as Chief Executive Officer for running the affairs of JKCA till rules are amended and elections are held.
It may be noted that the JKCA is without elected body since May 2017 and its affairs are observed and conducted by the two administrators and a CEO appointed by the court to ensure free and fair elections of JKCA as the term of JKCA has expired in the month of May 2017.