Farooq removed, Imran elected JKCA President but court puts it in abeyance

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

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SRINAGAR, Jul 20: The PDP-BJP coalition’s coup d’état in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association [JKCA] was accomplished on Monday with the removal of the National Conference Patron and former Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah from the key position of the sports body’s President and his replacement by the PDP leader and Minister incharge Youth Services & Sports Imran Raza Ansari.

As exclusively reported by STATE TIMES, JKCA’s pro-government component attended the Working Committee’s meeting at Sher-e-Kashmir International Cricket Stadium. The participants claimed that 42 of the 64 members of the WC attended the meeting which had been called in controversial circumstances by JKCA’s Vice President of Jammu Wing Rakesh Kumar.

The members---two each from 25 recognised cricket clubs and 7 government-controlled educational and sports constituents---were on the occasion asked to elect the new office-bearers. It was emphasised in the meeting that the office-bearers had rendered themselves non-functional and most of the works and sports activities undertaken by JKCA had been “completely frozen”.

While as the nominee of J&K Youth Services and Sports Department, Imran Raza Ansari was unanimously elected as President in place of Dr Abdullah, retired bureaucrat Mehboob Iqbal, who has joined PDP after his superannuation in government service, was elected Chairman. Besides, Mohammad Iqbal Shah was elected as General Secretary in place of M.L. Nehru and Abdul Rauf as Treasurer. Mr Nehru represents North India as Vice President in the apex sports body Board of Control for Cricket in India [BCCI].

Sources said that representatives of the two government-controlled universities of Kashmir and Jammu besides nine affiliate clubs did not participate in the meeting and election. Later, at a news conference, Mr Ansari claimed that 42 members participated in the meeting and the voting. He said that the constituent members elected the four new office-bearers unanimously.

Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, and Director General of Youth Services and Sports Jehangir Mir, were conspicuously present during the voting. However, there was no observer from BCCI.

JAMMU COURT STAYS MEETING

JKCA’s Chairman Arvinder Singh Micky, meanwhile filed a civil suit in the court of Excise Magistrate Mr Amarjit Singh Langeh to scuttle the government-sponsored process of the removal of the office-bearers duly elected for a term of three years in 2014. President of High Court Bar Association Abhinav Sharma appeared in the court in Jammu on behalf of the petitioner and sought maintenance of status quo. The court ordered that the meeting in question would remain stayed and the proceedings if any conducted today would remain in abeyance.

Mr Ansari in conversations with media in Srinagar denied knowledge of the petition and the court order but advocate Sharma claimed in Jammu that the court orders had been immediately passed on to the respondents. “By virtue of today’s court order, Dr Farooq Abdullah will continue to exist and act as President of JKCA and Mr Ansari’s purported election as President would remain in abeyance”, advocate Sharma told presspersons.

Mr Ansari claimed that his elections, as also that of other office-bearers, had happened lawfully and majority of the electors had participated in the voting. He contested Dr Abdullah’s claim that the office bearers had been elected for three years as per an amendment made to the JKCA constitution, enhancing their term from one to three years in 2011. “As per the JKCA constitution, all office bearers are supposed to be elected after one year”, Ansari asserted.

Later, informed sources told STATE TIMES that Police and JKCA staff broke open the locks of the rooms and almirahs at the office and took all records into custody. Unconfirmed reports said that a fresh account was also opened today in a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank Ltd with the authorisation of the new President. However, the operational code issued by BCCI was lying in the custody of General Secretary ML Nehru.

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