Hearing on Azhar's petition posted to Nov 12

A civil court in Hyderabad on Thursday posted the hearing on the main petition of former India skipper Mohammad Azharuddin, challenging life ban imposed on him by Board of Control for Cricket in India for his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal, to November 12.

Following a request by Azhar's counsel, who sought time to file an amended plaint in wake of the court's directive to him last month to strike off certain allegations that he had made in his main suit against former BCCI president A C Muthiah and BCCI anti-corruption commissioner K Madhavan, judge J Shyamsundar Rao adjourned the case.

The judge had issued orders on October 17, partly allowing three interlocutary applications filed by the BCCI, former board president Muthiah and the board's commissioner K Madhavan, seeking striking down of certain charges by Azharuddin in his main petition on the ground that these were 'vexatious, scandalous and irrelevant'.

The stylish Hyderabad batsman, in his main petition filed in a lower court, had questioned the appointment and method of inquiry by Madhavan, terming the probe, which formed the basis for initiating action against him, as 'malicious, illegal, arbitrary and biased' in favour of BCCI and sought the inquiry report to be treated as 'null and void'.

Azhar, who was critical of the life ban imposed on him by the BCCI, also questioned the competitiveness of its then president Muthiah, saying "He (Muthiah), being an industrialist, suffers from lack of experience or knowledge of the game."

Mail Cricket Editor