THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE E.V.VENUGOPAL WRIT PETITION No. 34249 OF 2024

O R D E R:

Heard Sri I.Rama Rao, learned counsel for petitioner, Sri Gadi Praveen Kumar, learned Deputy Solicitor General of India appearing for respondent No.1, Sri Kuldeep Jadav, learned Counsel representing Sri S.Abhaya Kumar Sagar, learned Standing Counsel for BCCI, Sri L.Arvind Reddy, learned Standing Counsel for HCA appearing for respondent Nos.4 and 5 and Sri M.Arun Kumar, learned Standing Counsel for respondent No.7.

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 3 and 4 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 2023, he was registered with the 3^rd respondent - BCCI vide ID No.25290, in full compliance with their guidelines and regulations and since then, he played for various tournaments representing the State of Telangana; and he was emerged as team captain for under-14. The grievance of Petitioner is that Respondents 3 and 4 have arbitrarily imposed a two-year ban and the same is communicated vide e-mail dated 14.11.2024 to petitioner’s address (jaikishan_999@yahoo.com). The action of the 4th 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 4^th respondent – Association, it is informed that enquiry was initiated by the 4^th respondent with the 6^th respondent to verify the documentation submitted by Petitioner with the 4th respondent and based on the findings of the said investigation, the 4^th 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. Respondent No.3 filed counter denying the contents of the writ petition except the petitioner is a registered cricketer with respondent No.4-Hyderabad Cricket Association with player I.D.No.25290 and inter alia contending that as per the procedure, the petitioner was required to submit his correct and genuine documents and also to undergo TW-3 bone test, passing which he would have been allowed to play; and that as the documents furnished by the player were required to be checked for genuineness and correctness by HCA, the HCA took further steps towards verification of the documents, including the examination of the documents by Hyderabad Police. It is further contended that during the said police investigation, birth certificate submitted shows the date of birth of the petitioner as 25.11.2008 did not belong to him and in fact, as per investigation, his date of birth is 25.02.2008. Therefore, based on the police investigation and pursuant to circular issued by BCCI, the petitioner was banned from participating in BCCI tournaments for a period of 2 years.

7. Respondent Nos.4 and 5 have filed counter on the same lines similar to the contentions of respondent No.3.

8. It is the main contention of the petitioner that the respondent associations have imposed ban against him w