Court sends notice to PCB for early hearing of Shoaib's appeal

A court has issued a notice to the Pakistan Cricket Board in response to an application by fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar seeking an early hearing of his appeal challenging the one and a half year ban and fine of Rs 7 million imposed on him.

The ban and fine were imposed by an appellate tribunal constituted by the PCB.

The Lahore High Court had earlier given interim relief to Akhtar by allowing him to participate in national and international cricket matches by suspending the ban.

The bowler, through his counsel Abid Hasan Manto, informed the High Court on Friday that the PCB's appellate tribunal is not authorised to award such penalties because these were not provided for under the relevant laws.

Akhtar's lawyer contended that the tribunal illegally passed the impugned order by relying on two earlier orders given by two different disciplinary committees of the PCB.

He pointed out that a disciplinary committee had in October 2007 imposed a ban of 13 matches on Akhtar and asked him to pay a fine of Rs 4 million on the charge of hitting a fellow cricketer in South Africa.

Manto said the other committee passed an order for a life ban, which Akhtar challenged in the PCB's tribunal.

He said that imposing a life ban was "completely ultra vires and illegal" because it was not provided for in any law, rule or policy of the PCB.

He said an illegal part of that order cannot be relied on either by the disciplinary committee that imposed a ban or by the appellate tribunal which reduced the punishment.

Manto requested the court to declare the disciplinary committee's order and the findings of the appellate tribunal as illegal.