PCB election commissioner's authority challenged in IHC

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday accepted a plea challenging the notification empowering Pakistan Cricket Board's Election Commissioner Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana to manage PCB affairs till the election of a chairman.

Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, while accepting the plea for a hearing, issued notices to the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination and others for July 4. The court also issued notices to the parties on the various stay order applications.

The petition wants the IHC to rule that the notification of handing over the affairs of PCB to the election commissioner was illegal.

This is the second time in two days that a court has intervened in PCB’s matters.

A day earlier, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) issued a stay order against the PCB chairman's elections that were scheduled to take place today (Tuesday).

The stay order was issued by a two-member bench, comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Muhammad Aamir Nawaz Rana, till July 17. The orders were issued on a petition filed by PCB management committee member Gul Mohammad Kakar challenging the elections.

The bench also issued notices to the prime minister, Ministry of Inter Provincial Coordination and chairman candidate Zaka Ashraf.

Following the BHC order, the PCB also postponed the elections for the PCB chairman.

The two court's intervention has added more controversy to the appointment for the PCB’s top job.

Earlier, the PCB chairman's post was a bone of contention between the ruling coalition partners Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The PPP wanted former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf to return to the post, while the PML-N wanted now defunct Management Committee chairman Najam Sethi to continue his job at the PCB.

The PPP's stance on the matter is that since its minister heads the Inter-Provincial Coordination Division and PCB is related to the ministry, its chairman should be appointed by the party.

However, the path was cleared for PPP's nominee Ashraf to return as PCB chairman after Sethi pulled out of the race.

Earlier this month, Sethi announced he was not running for the post as he did not want to be a "bone of contention" between the partners in the coalition government.

Citing the atmosphere of uncertainty and instability as inconducive for the board, he said he had decided to step aside from the race for the PCB's chairmanship.

"I don’t want to be a bone of contention between Asif Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif," he had tweeted.

After Sethi’s exit, Election Commissioner Rana was named the acting chairman and election commissioner for the chairman’s election.

And as per his duties, last week, the PCB, under Rana’s leadership, announced that the elections for the top post would be held on Tuesday (June 27).

In a statement, the PCB said that the election for the chairman’s post would be held at its headquarters in Lahore.

The date for the elections was announced after the sport’s governing body in Pakistan shared that the Rana had formed the PCB’s Board of Governors after the completion of the Management Committee’s dissolution. The board was formed “in accordance with Para 10 of the PCB Constitution 2014” and in line with a letter sent by the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) regarding the management committee.

The board members include PCB Patron Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's nominees Muhammad Zaka Ashraf and Mustafa Ramday, National Bank of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan, Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), president Larkana Region, president Dera Murad Jamali Region, president Bahawalpur Region and president Hyderabad Region.