The royal mess in Jammu and Kashmir cricket, which currently has two factions fielding-training their own teams in domestic tournaments, may now turn into a complicated legal tangle if a top Indian cricket board (BCCI) official ends up dragging the parent body itself to court.
BCCI vice-president ML Nehru, who belongs to the Farooq Abdullah faction is furious after the board allowed the team representing the ruling faction - currently headed by Jammu and Kashmir sports minister Iqbal Raza Ansari - to play the opening match of the women's U-19 zonal league one-dayers in Una, Himachal Pradesh. The Farooq Abdullah-Nehru faction team, which too had landed up there, was ignored.
To complicate matters, Nehru's faction had procured a stay order on the JKCA elections results from a sub-magistrate court in Jammu, while the Ansari group too obtained a favourable order from a similar-level court in Baramulla.
Clearly distracted by the controversy, J&K were shot out for 38 and lost by 10 wickets to Punjab.
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I don't know why our team had to miss out. Our side had better players, but sadly they weren't allowed to play. I have written to Anurag Thakur (BCCI secretary) about this. If our team isn't allowed to play in the second match too, I will sue the BCCI. They're a party in the Jammu court's order, and if they don't follow it, it will be contempt of court.
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- a fuming Nehru told TOI on Tuesday.
He questioned the logic applied by the BCCI while recognizing the Ansari faction's team. "When both the parties have orders from similar-level courts, and we have obtained a permanent injunction from the district court, how can it rule in one faction's favour? I will approach the Jammu court tomorrow," he added.
JKCA secretary Iqbal Shah, though, presented a different picture. "The BCCI's decision to field our team has put a sense of relief in all the players here. A majority of them have been training with us for the past month, and they are being registered by BCCI for the forthcoming season too. We'll soon announce our Ranji team. All our rival faction has done since they lost a fair election (on July 20 this year) is fight court cases.
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They concealed quite a few facts in the case at Jammu court, but we won the case in Baramulla, while the district court has asked the status quo to be maintained. There is a CBI case registered in a fund embezzlement case against a few officials of the previous regime too.
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- Shah said. "Ansari has spoken to Thakur, who has assured that the BCCI will recognize our teams across all age-group tournaments. Even Jagmohan Dalmiya (deceased BCCI president) was in our favour," Shah claimed.
The players, meanwhile, are keeping their fingers crossed. The storm may have receded. Or it may have just got worse.
Source -TOI