Supreme in TS, says HCA
The Board of Control for India’s Committee of Administrators on Wednesday heard the Telangana Cricket Association’s case seeking to be affiliated to the BCCI as an associate member since Hyderabad Cricket Association has primary membership as a voter.
After deliberations, HCA president G. Vivekanand clarified that legally TCA did not stand a chance going by the bye laws.
“They represented they are not asking for voting or full membership rights and are only seeking associate membership so that cricket in Telangana can be developed. They also said HCA has neglected cricket in rural areas and they have only nine clubs representing HCA. They were saying that districts represent 99 per cent in area and 83 per cent of population and not one cricketer is in the state team from districts. They also were seeking membership based on Lodha Committee recommendations to promote cricket in rural areas,” he stated.
“We represented that Mumbai High Court order (asking the BCCI to reply to the petition filed by TCA) was taken without involving the HCA. Also, as per BCCI byelaws associate membership can only be granted by three-fourths of members of the BCCI general body. Moreover, associate membership cannot be given when there is already a full member in HCA. Gujarat and Maharashtra (where there are three and two full members respectively) cannot be compared as the jurisdiction is clearly marked in those states. Puducherry was given membership being a new state and TCA has no local standi on basis of membership to Puducherry,” the statement read.
The HCA “impressed upon them the good response we got for the Venkatswamy T20 tournament which had over 1.2 crore viewers. We also informed them that five district players were compulsory in the teams. HCA also had district teams in the Moin-ud-Dowla tournament and we spent nearly `2 crore in the districts as against `7.8 lakh by TCA in 2015-16. Infrastructure wise and administrative capability wise HCA is supreme and associate membership should not be given to TCA.
Mr Agam Rao rebutted their contention that only 9 clubs represent the districts by saying that they represent nine districts. We also represented that Hyderabad had five rural districts abutting it and all 31 districts jurisdiction is covered by the HCA,” the statement said.