A ban imposed on a player without proper inquiry and notice violates natural justice and is deemed arbitrary and illegal.

ORDER :

NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA, J.

Heard Sri P. Raja Sripathi Rao, learned Senior Counsel on behalf of Ms. B. Nishitha, learned counsel for petitioner, Sri S. Ashok Anand Kumar, learned Senior Counsel on behalf of HCA and Sri C. Damodar Reddy, learned Senior Counsel on behalf of Sri S. Abhaya Kumar Sagar, learned Standing Counsel BCCI.

2. Petitioner is before this Court to declare the ban imposed on him for two years, effective from 04.11.2024 to 03.11.2026 and preventing him to play the tournaments conducted by Respondents 2 and 3 as illegal and violation of his rights.

3. It is the case of Petitioner that he is highly-skilled and playing cricket for nearly a decade, with outstanding credentials, diligence, and accomplishments in various state and national-level tournaments. In 2021, he was registered with the 2nd respondent - BCCI vide ID No.18774, in full compliance with their guidelines and regulations and since then, he played for various tournaments representing the State of Telangana; in October 2024, he was the captain of Hyderabad team for Under-19 for the tournament Vinoo Mankad Trophy held at Mohali. The grievance of Petitioner is that Respondents 2 and 3 have arbitrarily imposed a two-year ban and the same is communicated vide e mail dated 14.11.2024 to petitioner’s address (chiragvalid123@gmail.com). The action the 2^nd respondent is impugned in this Writ Petition.

4. The contention of petitioner is that without issuing any formal notice or conducting a fair inquiry and in violation of principles of natural justice, respondents imposed ban and there is no opportunity given to him to present his defence and to be heard despite sending multiple e mails requesting to furnish a copy of report of the police based on which ban was imposed. According to petitioner, imposing ban is a unilateral decision and violates his rights and undermines the very essence of fairness and transparency in administrative actions.

5. In the e mail dated 14.11.2024 addressed to petitioner by the Secretary of the 3^rd respondent – Association, it is informed that enquiry was initiated by the 3rd respondent with the 6^th respondent to verify the documentation submitted by Petitioner with the 3^rd respondent and based on the findings of the said investigation, the 3rd respondent submitted report to BCCI for appropriate action as per their guidelines, which consequently, imposed ban on petitioner for submitting fake document effective from 04.11.2024 till 03.11.2026 in all tournaments and after completion of ban period, petitioner would be eligible to participate in senior men's tournaments.

6. Petitioner relies upon the guidelines issued by the 2nd respondent. Guideline No. 4 (iii) explicitly mentioned that players who were registered on line by Association concerned in any of the seasons from 2018-19 to 2023-24, need not register again using the “common form”. Petitioner being a registered player since 2021-22 season is under the category of “Registered Players” as defined by the guidelines of the 2nd respondent. Thereby there is no necessity for petitioner to undergo any fresh registration process for the subsequent seasons. However, he had provided all the relevant documents to substantiate the same showing his existing registration as Player ID: 18774. Guideline No. 4 is extracted hereunder:-

“4. Online Registration of fresh and Registered player (men & women) (or 2024-25 season

i. As you are aware that the season 2018-19 is the benchmark for all players registration purposes, therefore, a player who is registered online by the concerned Association during the season 2018-19 will not have to fill this common form for the subsequent cricket seasons.

ii. Fresh players are those players who are not registered online in the season 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 or 2023- 24. It is mandatory for the concerned association to register only such players by using this “common form”.

iii. Registered players – are those players who are registered online in t