Supreme Court tasks retired Justice L Nageswara Rao to oversee Hyderabad Cricket Association polls

The Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed retired Supreme Court judge, Justice L Nageswara Rao to oversee the process of conducting the pending Hyderabad Cricket Association elections [Hyderabad Cricket Association vs Charminar Cricket Club and anr]..A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Manoj Misra, and Aravind Kumar said that the impasse surrounding the current pendency of the polls must come to an end and elections must be held in a fair manner. "We are of the view that the impasse must be broken and elections held which was the original objective. In fact the dispute over Ombudsman came to this Court and in the whole process this matter has continued while the very appointment of Ombudsman was for a period of one year! Now the question is how to ensure that a fair and proper elections are held so that the matter can be put to rest. Some suggestions were made. This Court is of the view that Hon’ble L. Nageswara Rao, J. (Retd.) of this Court would be the most appropriate person to be appointed as the single Member Committee to sort out this mess", the Court ordered.It also directed the Hyderabad Cricket association to extend all assistance to Justice Rao."It is open to him to take assistance of whatever person/authority he so desires. He will fix his own emoluments. The expenses will be borne by the Association. If the learned Judge needs some directions from this Court, the matter be placed limited for the aforesaid purpose.Needless to say that the Association will render all necessary support for the learned Judge to carry out the exercise", the order said.The Court also added that it cannot monitor all sports associations.The matter will be heard next on March 2, 2023. .The apex court was hearing a case in which the association had earlier appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice Deepak Verma as its ombudsman and ethics officer.The matter came to the top court after some State cricket clubs challenged a Telangana High Court order upholding Justice Verma's appointment. On Tuesday, the bench was dealing with applications in the matter seeking timely conduct of polls. Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave, appearing for one of the respondents in the matter, suggested the name of Justice Rao."We suggest that the elections be conducted under the aegis of Justice L Nageswara Rao, he is from Hyderabad; he can fix the electoral college etc," Dave said.Another counsel appearing in the matter pointed out that former international cricketer Mohd Azharuddin continued to run the association despite the pending polls and legal case. The Court eventually appointed Justice Rao to oversee the elections..This is Justice Rao's second such stint, having earlier supervised the process of finalising an electoral college for the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Justice Rao is still overseeing the finalisation of IOA's new draft constitution..[Read order]