Azhar's petition posted for Nov1
A civil court in Hyderabad on Wednesday posted to November 1 the hearing on the main petition filed by former
Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, challenging the life ban imposed on him by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal.
Second additional judge J Shyamsundar Rao, earlier in the day, had issued orders partly
allowing three interlocutary applications filed by the BCCI,
its former board president A C Muthiah and BCCI inquiry
commissioner K Madhavan, seeking striking down of certain
allegations by Azharuddin in his main petition on the ground
that they are 'vexatious, scandalous and irrelevant'.
The stylish Hyderabad batsman, in his main petition filed
in a lower court, questioned the appointment and method of
inquiry by Madhavan, terming the commissioner's probe, which formed
the basis for initiating action against him, as 'malicious,
illegal, arbitrary and biased' in favour of the BCCI, and sought
the inquiry report to be treated as null and void.
Azhar, who was critical of the life ban imposed on him by
the BCCI, also questioned the competence of its then president
Muthiah, saying 'he (Muthiah) being an industrialist suffers
from lack of experience or knowledge of the game'.
Earlier, Ramesh Ranganathan, Sanjay Joshi and
Suryanaryana, appearing on behalf of the BCCI, Madhavan and
Muthiah, all defendants, brushed aside charges levelled by
Azhar, saying they are 'baseless and irrelevant', and sought their deletion.
Mail Cricket Editor