Azharuddin ban appeal to be heard in April

Mohammad Azharuddin's appeal against his life ban for alleged match-fixing is to be heard in April, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

An application by former Indian Test captain Azharuddin seeking temporary suspension of the ban imposed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India last month will be heard next month, T. Jagdish said.

"Our interim application for stay and suspension of the life ban will come up for hearing on February 14," Jagdish informed over phone from Hyderabad.

He said the appeal against the life ban would be heard on April 3 in the Hyderabad civil court where Azharuddin's petition was filed on Monday.

Azharuddin's other lawyer, Arun Bharadwaj, said the court would send notices seeking a response from the people named in the petition.

The petition named the BCCI, the board's president, A.C. Muthiah, and K. Madhavan, the BCCI vigilance commissioner, as respondents and challenged the "irregularities" in the match-fixing inquiry conducted by Madhavan.

Muthiah said in Bangalore the board would contest Azharuddin's appeal in court.

"He (Azharuddin) is at liberty to say whatever he wants to say. We will defend it in court," he told reporters in Bangalore.

The petition contended there was no provision in the BCCI constitution to conduct such an inquiry and that the board's disciplinary committee alone had to take a decision.

Muthiah said the BCCI believed it had followed correct procedures in appointing Madhavan as the vigilance commissioner.

"We have not yet received any communication from the court. We will reply to it as soon as it is received," Muthiah added.

A federal Central Bureau of Investigation report on the match-fixing scandal released last November named five Indian test players.

The BCCI banned Azharuddin from cricket for life along with Ajay Sharma, and suspended Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar for five years. Nayan Mongia, the other Indian Test player named in the CBI report, was exonerated.

All four players against whom the BCCI took action have denied any wrongdoing.

The board's decision had come after an internal inquiry conducted on the CBI report by Madhavan, a former joint director of the CBI. It had also asked the players to appear before a disciplinary committee.

Azharuddin, accused in the CBI probe of fixing results and underperforming in return for money from bookmakers, recently said he was confident he could overturn his ban in court and return to the test side.

Mail Cricket Editor