HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA WRIT PETITION No. 33997 OF 2024

O R D E R:

Petitioner questions imposition of ban for two years, effective from 04/11/2024 to 03/11/2026 from participating in the BCCI or State Association Tournaments and consequently, seeks a direction to respondents to consider the statutory records as per Guideline No. 10 of the 2nd respondent.

2. It is the case of the Petitioner that for the year 2024 he got registered with the Respondent No.2, for the domestic season 2024-2025 under -19 Vinoo Mankad Trophy in compliance with the guidelines of the Respondent No.2, with Player ID:18844, and in compliance, documentation that is required/stipulated was furnished. On 16/09/2024, Respondent No.3 Association had formed six teams to participate in Under-19 probables scheduled from 16^th to 21^st September 2024, the said matches were organised for identifying/selecting players for the state team to play and Vinoo Mankad Trophy on 04/10/2024 and based on the performance in the probables matches, Petitioner is selected for the State team of Telangana to participate in Vinoo Mankad Trophy, affirming his eligibility and competence as player in the category Under-19. While matter stood thus, in October 2024, representative of Respondent No.3 Association had contacted Petitioner and requested to share OTP verification of Aadhar Card on the pretext of completing registration with BCCI for the upcoming tournament and trusting the said representation, Petitioner shared OTP verification number; thereafter, Petitioner is refused from taking further participation in the team including training session without giving any notice and intimation; at this point of time, he realized that OTP verification number shared by him was used to access the his Aadhar history without his consent which is violation of provisions of the Aadhar Act.

It is further case of Petitioner that his father had cancelled his Birth Certificate in 2019 by following due procedure with Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) vide Doc. No. 1903/B&D/AMOH/H&S/CIR- 29&30/GHMC/2019 dated: 08/07/2019, despite the same, Respondents 2 and 3 unfairly came to a conclusion that Petitioner is guilty of misconduct and excluded him from participating in Cooch Bihar Trophy 2024-2025 without hearing him. Respondent No.3 on 27/10/2024 behind the back of Petitioner initiated inquiry into the alleged discrepancy of Birth Certificate. Respondent No.3 sent a requisition to the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad to conduct inquiry. Petitioner submits that due to the clerical error in the Original Birth Certificate dated 10/01/2006, and upon realizing this discrepancy, he took steps to correct the same and on 07/03/2019, his father approached GHMC Authorities and after reviewing the document presented and verifying the circumstances, GHMC Authorities have officially cancelled the Birth Certificate dated 10/01/2006, and Birth Certificate dated 10/11/2006 remains valid and accurately reflects the date of birth. The said step of cancelling the first Birth Certificate has been done transparently and by following due process of law.

It is stated, as on the date of filing Writ Petition, Petitioner is holding only one Birth Certificate showing the date of birth as 10/11/2006, and said date of birth is used and is recorded in all other statutory records namely Secondary School Certificate, Passport, Pancard, and Aadhar Card.

3. Respondent No.2 filed counter contending that they are responsible to ensure that all its tournaments are conducted in fair environment and no undue advantage can be taken by any player and had put checks and balances to ensure level playing field for competitive participation of players in the age group tournaments. A Circular bearing No. BCCI/HQ/34/(M2)/1787/2020 dated 31.07.2020 was issued introducing the "Voluntary Disclosure Scheme" by which players were encouraged to reveal their actual date of birth before 15.09.2020. If the player did disclose the act