HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NAGESH BHEEMAPAKA WRIT PETITION No. 18224 OF 2025

O R D E R:

The brief facts of the case as can be seen from the affidavit filed in support of the petition are as under:

a) The petitioner is dedicated and skilled cricketer and playing cricket for nearly a decade, with outstanding credentials, diligence, and accomplishments in various state and national-level tournaments. In the year 2024, he was registered with the respondent No. 2 - BCCI vide ID No.26443, in full compliance with their guidelines and regulations and since then, he played for various tournaments; he was part of U-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, Team B for U-19 probable matches, Fast Bowlers Hunt U – 19 and BCCI Men’s squad Under-19 for the tournament of Vinoo Mankad Trophy. The grievance of Petitioner is that based on the report of respondent No. 3 the respondent No.2 arbitrarily imposed a two-year ban on the petitioner and the same is communicated vide e mail dated 14.11.2024 to petitioner’s address (diveshb251@gmail.com). The action of the respondent Nos.2 and 3 is impugned in this Writ Petition.

b) It is to be seen 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 the respondents 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.

c) In the e mail dated 14.11.2024 addressed to petitioner by the Secretary of the respondent No.3 – Association, it is informed that enquiry was initiated by the respondent No.3 with the respondent No.6 to verify the documentation submitted by Petitioner with the respondent No.3 and based on the findings of the said investigation, the respondent No.3 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.

d) The petitioner relies upon the guidelines issued by the respondent No.2. 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”. The petitioner being a registered player since 2024 season is under the category of “Registered Players” as defined by the guidelines of the respondent No.2. 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: 26443. 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 the season 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 & 2023- 24. The concerned association should not re- register these players online by using this “common form” the season 2024-25, if selected to participate in the BCCI Tournaments for the season 2024-2025.

iv. However, every y