Serial No. 135

HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH

AT SRINAGAR

WP(C) No. 3158/2025

CM No. 8487/2025

Caveat No. 2951/2025

Date of pronouncement : 17.12.2025 Date of uploading : 18.12.2025

Sanjay Saraf …Petitioner(s)

Through: Mr. Danish Majid Dar, Adv.

Ms. Ahra Syed, Adv.

Ms. Monisa Manzoor, Adv.

V.

J&K Cricket Association th. its Member Administration

...Respondent(s)

and others

Through: Mr. Rahul Pant, Sr. Adv. with

Mr. Rajat Gupta, Adv. (th. Virtual Mode)

Mr. Arif Sikandar, Adv. with

Ms Laraib Anjaleena, Adv.

Mr. Showkat Khan, Advocate

CORAM:

HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SEKHRI, JUDGE

JUDGMENT

Caveat No. 2951/2025

1. Caveat stands discharged.

WP(C) No. 3158/2025

2. Petitioner is aggrieved of order dated 19.03.2025, passed by “Ombudsman J&K Cricket Association” [„JKCA‟, for short], vide which, respondent No. 4-faction of “Whites Cricket Club” [„WCC‟, for short] came to be recognized for limited purpose of taking part in the voting in the forthcoming

elections of JKCA.

3. Petitioner has invoked writ jurisdiction of this Court, under Article 226 of Constitution of India, for quashment of the aforesaid order and a mandamus to

the respondents to recognize the petitioner faction of WCC for the purpose of JKCA affiliation, representation and voting and that he is the only eligible representative of WCC, Kashmir for the preparation of electoral rolls and participation in forthcoming JKCA elections.

4. Mr. Rahul Pant, learned Sr. Advocate appearing for the respondents, at the outset, has questioned maintainability of the present petition on the ground that petitioner has raised a pure private dispute between two factions of a Cricket Club and there is no public law element involved in the petition.

5. The case set out by the petitioner is that he came to know about the impugned order only when he received a communication from a Member Administration, JKCA that Hon‟ble Supreme Court vide order dated 27.10.2025 had directed to conduct JKCA elections within twelve weeks. According to the petitioner, on the receipt of this communication, he came to know that WCC has been shown as a disputed club and voting rights have been assigned to an outsider. It is further case of the petitioner that immediately upon receiving the said communication and learning that impugned order passed by the Ombudsman was sought to be operationalized in the ongoing elections process, the petitioner through its former President/Representative, Sh. Ashinder Koul and the present elected body, submitted a detailed representation to the election officer, appointed pursuant to Hon‟ble Supreme Court‟s order dated 27.10.2025 and placed the entire factual and legal position on record for the redressal of his grievance.

6. Heard rival contentions, perused the record and written arguments, submitted by learned counsel for the petitioner.

7. Mr. Danish Majid Dar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner has argued that since impugned order has been passed by a person purporting to act as “Ombudsman JKCA” a quasi public function, the petition, in the present form, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is maintainable.

8. According to Mr. Danish, dispute projected in the present petition is not a private or intra club dispute, but, it has a direct nexus to the impugned order which affects the composition of the electoral college in the forthcoming JKCA elections. According to him, the impugned order passed by so called “Ombudsman” has potential to alter the voting rights of the petitioner-Club, and since it par takes the character of the public law, thus, amenable to judicial review, under Article 226 of the Constitution.

9. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that impugned order is violative of principles of natural justice, because neither any notice was served upon the petitioner nor an opportunity of being heard was granted to him. He has relied upon Board of Control of Cricket v. Cricket Association of Bihar and others;

2018 (8) SCC 525

10. Ex adverso, Mr. Pant learned Sr. Counse