Azharuddin challenges life ban in court

Former India cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin on Monday challenged in court the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India following match-fixing allegations.

Azharuddin moved a petition in the civil court of Hyderabad, where he lives, against the board which banned him last month following a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the match-fixing scandal.

"It (the petition) was filed in the city civil courts today," Azharuddin's lawyer, T. Jagdish, said.

The petition named the BCCI, its president A. C. Muthiah and the board's vigilance commissioner K. Madhavan, who conducted an internal inquiry against Azharuddin and four other Test players named in the CBI probe, as respondents.

The BCCI banned Azharuddin for life from cricket along with Ajay Sharma and suspended Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar for five years while exonerating Nayan Mongia, the other Indian player named in the CBI report.

All four players against whom the BCCI took action have denied any wrongdoing.

The board's decision had come after an internal enquiry conducted on the CBI report by Madhavan, a former director of the CBI. It had also asked the players to appear before a disciplinary committee.

The petition, said Jagdish, contended that there is no provision in the BCCI constitution to conduct such an inquiry, and the board's disciplinary committee alone had to take a decision.

The petition said the BCCI punishment (against Azharuddin) "was harsh and discriminatory" and that there was no basis for the charges, Jagdish said.

Azharuddin said in his petition that he was not given a chance to examine or cross-examine witnesses by the BCCI commissioner.

"The CBI did not indict any of the players. There is no admission of guilt in the CBI report against the players who are accused of match-fixing," Azharuddin's lawyer quoted him as having said in the petition.

The 38-year-old Azharuddin, accused of fixing results and underperforming in return for money from bookmakers by the CBI probe, had recently said he is confident he can overturn his ban in court and return to the Test side.

"There is no truth in the accusations so far gathered against me," he was quoted as saying in an interview.

Related interview with Mohammad Azharuddin
Sab galat baata hai yeh!

Mail Cricket Editor