Banned players may not gain anything by going to court
A senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court said today that even if the banned cricketers move the court against the verdict given against them, they will not be able to achieve anything
Sakyasen Mittra
07-Dec-2000
A senior advocate of the Calcutta High Court said
today that even if the banned cricketers move the
court against the verdict given against them, they
will not be able to achieve anything. Gitanath
Ganguly, who specializes in handling cases for
sportspersons and sports associations said that
the court usually does not interfere in domestic
matters of any association."It will also not
involve itself in matters of the Board of Control
for Cricket in India which is an autonomous body."
Ganguly made it clear that at the most any court
would look into the process regarding the manner
in which the judgement has been passed. "If the
BCCI has the verdict following all the rules in
its own constitution, then it has got nothing to
worry about as far the banned cricketers are
concerned. The court will look into whether the
players had a chance to explain their stand and
whether they have been informed of all
developments regarding the investigation carried
out by the Board," said Ganguly. He also added
that if the BCCI had acted on the information
provided by the CBI, then it would have been in
trouble. "However, by conducting an enquiry of
their own through the former Joint Director of the
CBI, the BCCI has strengthened its stand," said
Ganguly.
Meanwhile, quite a few members of the Cricket
Association of Bengal have demanded that pictures
of Mohammed Azharuddin be removed from the Eden
Gardens. There are a number of photographs of the
former Indian captain that have found a place in
the captain's gallery situated in the lounge in
between the two dressing rooms. The members have
also requested the President of the Cricket
Association of Bengal, Jagmohan Dalmiya to remove
the pictures of Azharuddin. They feel that after
being found guilty in the match-fixing
allegations, Azharuddin has harmed the reputation
of the game and as such, his pictures should not
be preserved. It was at the Eden Gardens in 1984
that Azharuddin made his Test debut and scored a
hundred. It was the very place which reestablished Azhar as the captain of the Indian
team in 1993. It was the same place which
reinforced him in the Indian side in 1997 when he
scored a brilliant hundred against South Africa.
Sadly, the place that had given him so much will
not treasure his contributions to the game
anymore.