Former India starter and coach Lalchand Rajput petitioned Judge Vijaya Tahiliramani, ombudsman for the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), questioning his “unconstitutional” removal as chair of the Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC) .
Rajput and the other CIC members, Sameer Dighe and Raju Kulkarni, were removed in February citing conflict of interest rules. The MCA appointed former India coach Jatin Paranjpe as Rajput’s replacement.
In his petition, accessed by The Indian Express, Rajput wrote that the dissolution of the CIC is not a right of the holders of the Council / Head Office and the ombudsman should pass an interim order to re-establish the dissolved CIC. He also wanted the new appointments to be considered invalid.
Rajput has alleged that the secretaries began to interfere in the affairs of the CIC and included players in the eleven without permission from the selectors.
“The interference of the secretaries started with the secretaries actively interfering in all the selection processes (junior and senior selection). Selectors are willing to testify for interference: ex. Inclusion of 2 players in 20 selected by senior team selectors for Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021 (SMAT) after BCCI allowed 22 players due to covid instead of 20. The same 2 players were included in game 11 in SMAT in some matches. In addition, a left-arm pitcher who was not in the original 20, who was an 11th hitter, was forced to open innings at SMAT, ”the petition says.
Rajput adds that on February 5, 2021, the secretaries (Sanjay Naik and Shahalam Shaikh) wrote to the CIC members to inform them that they had appointed Amol Muzumdar as the coach of the Mumbai team. Rajput maintains that this was unethical under the MCA constitution. Muzumdar hadn’t even applied for a job.
The CIC wanted Ramesh Powar to be the coach, and it turned out that Mumbai won the Vijay Hazare trophy under Powar’s tutelage.
“This was a flagrant violation by the secretaries of interfering in the running of CIC. The CIC did not accept the previous unconstitutional decision. They appointed a new CIC who would be at the disposal of the secretaries and would act on their instructions. The secretaries wrote a letter dated February 18, 2021 to say that CIC had been dissolved. The moment of the letter leaves no doubt that it was illegal and unconstitutional on the part of the Secretaries, who did not have the authority to remove CIC particularly for the aforementioned cause of dissolving as a Conflict of Interest, ”the petition reads.
Rajput says that the conflict of interest can only be decided by the Ethics Officer.
When contacted by MCA Deputy Secretary Shahalam Shaikh, he declared that in democracy everyone has the right to express themselves.
“Everyone has the right to express themselves. The MCA will abide by the decision of the ombudsman. “
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