SC sets aside ban on cricketer Santhosh Karunakaran

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has quashed the lifetime ban imposed on former Kerala Ranji Trophy cricketer Santhosh Karunakaran by the Kerala Cricket Association (KCA).

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta allowed the special leave petition (SLP) filed by Karunakaran against the 2021 rulings of the Kerala High Court, which had dismissed his writ petition and subsequent appeal.

The cricketer had originally approached the Ombudsman-cum-Ethics Officer in 2019, requesting implementation of model byelaws in all District Cricket Associations (DCAs) of Kerala as recommended by the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee and adopted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

The Ombudsman rejected Karunakaran’s plea on October 3, 2020, citing his failure to implead the DCAs as parties in the case, despite repeated directions. Karunakaran moved the Kerala High Court challenging this decision, arguing that the Ombudsman’s proceedings were absolutely non-transparent and he was never informed about those specific directions.

Both the single judge as well as the division bench of the Kerala High Court dismissed Karunakaran’s petitions, holding that he had approached the court with “unclean hands” and purportedly concealed material facts.

Following the High Court’s dismissal of Karunakaran’s pleas, the KCA issued a show-cause notice under its bye-laws.

In August 2021, the KCA imposed a lifetime ban, blacklisting Karunakaran from all its activities and stripping him of his rights and privileges as a registered member of the Thiruvananthapuram DCA.

In its judgment, the Supreme Court agreed with Karunakaran’s contention that the proceedings before the Ombudsman lacked transparency and that he was not provided with the relevant records.

Notably, Karunakaran had written to the Ombudsman requesting access to a copy of all records of the proceedings in the original application, but his request was denied on the grounds that the Ombudsman is a “persona designata” and not a court of record.

Further, the apex court took note of the fact that Karunakaran and his counsel faced repeated difficulties in addressing the Ombudsman, as virtual hearings were “frequently interrupted without any justification”.

It termed the Kerala High Court’s dismissal of Karunakaran’s pleas as “harsh”, noting that he was under no obligation to implead the DCAs in his original application before the Ombudsman.

“Otherwise, also, the only prayer of the appellant in the original application was to frame uniform Bye-laws in sync with the recommendations of the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee. Thus, the application filed by the appellant was not in the form of any adversarial litigation requiring the mandatory opportunity of hearing to the DCAs,” the top court said.

Setting aside the Ombudsman’s order, along with the Kerala High Court’s judgments dated January 27 and June 21, 2021, the Supreme Court ordered the revival of Karunakaran’s original application seeking structural reforms in district-level cricket governance and directed the Ombudsman to hear the matter afresh.

“The proceedings of the Original Application No. 10 of 2019 filed by the appellant before the Ombudsman shall stand revived. The concerned parties shall be provided an opportunity of hearing, and the original application shall be decided afresh by the Ombudsman by passing a reasoned order within a period of three months,” the Justice Nath-led Bench ordered.

IANS