HCA members await response on request for Special General Meeting

Hyderabad: Former BCCI president and India off-spinner N Shivlal, along with former Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) president Arshad Ayub, have appealed to the HCA’s Single Member Committee (SMC), headed by Justice (Retd) Naveen Rao, to grant permission to convene a Special General Meeting (SGM) at the earliest.

Speaking to the media, Shivlal and Arshad said that, since the term of the Apex Council ended on October 20, they hoped the SMC would initiate the election process as early as possible.

“This was exactly what the then Supreme Court-appointed Single Member Committee, headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao, had done after fulfilling the Supreme Court’s guidelines for ‘cleaning up the mess’,” the former cricketers pointed out.

Shivlal said it would be in the interest of the sport and the HCA to convene the SGM as early as possible. “So, we humbly request Justice (Retd) Naveen Rao to allow us to conduct the SGM and the AGM to move forward,” he said.

“Once the SGM is held, it should pave the way for the AGM, where the annual statement of accounts can be passed and a specific decision can also be taken on conducting elections,” Shivlal said.

Arshad said it was imperative to incorporate the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee into the HCA Constitution, particularly the guidelines on appointments to key posts in the association and eligibility criteria, including those for selectors.

“Let us make it clear that we are not contenders for any posts in the HCA because of the Justice Lodha guidelines. No self-motives. But we hope a new and young body, duly elected, is in place as early as possible,” he said.

Former HCA secretary K John Manoj, who was also present at the briefing along with Vanka Pratap, Rajesh Yadav and Purushotham Agarwal, said that 108 affiliated members of the HCA had already appealed in writing to Justice Naveen Rao and were awaiting a response.

More than 50 club secretaries also attended the media briefing addressed by the former India cricketers and HCA officials.