Hyderabad, July 03: A city civil court today reserved order on the suit filed by former Indian cricket captain Mohd Azharuddin challenging the life ban imposed on him by the cricket board due to his alleged involvement in match-fixing scandal. The second additional chief civil judge concluded arguments on the suit and posted it for order to a later date.
The BCCI, while refuting allegations of selective discrimination or vindictive attitude towards Azharuddin, had asserted that "no rule, regulation or settled procedure was by-passed to make out any discriminatory action against the former skipper".
It claimed that though the decision to hold preliminary inquiry into match-fixing allegations was based on newspaper reports, the regular inquiry was based on the preliminary inquiry, which it was compelled to order as the allegations were of wide public interest.
Regarding the appointment of one-man commission to probe the allegations, the board contended that "Madhavan was not chosen because of his alleged hostile attitude or for any extraneous reasons" and had rejected Azharuddin's contention challenging the appointment.
BCCI had also denied Azharuddin's charge that he was "never given a clear charge memo nor informed about the exact charges levelled against him before disqualifying him from playing in test cricket".
Azharuddin had claimed that "in the absence of a specific charge showing his specific involvement to benefit other side in a match, he could not put across his evidence".

Bureau Report