Himachal Pradesh High Court orders BCCI to check 'fake DoB papers'

Shimla, April 7

The High Court has directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India to devise a mechanism so that the alleged menace of production of forged date of birth certificates by players could be stopped.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua passed this order yesterday on a petition filed by Suresh Kumar on the issue of age verification programme for the Under-19 age group.

The petitioner has alleged that the method adopted by the BCCI for the determination of age and fixation of cut-off date is breeding corruption and giving rise to preparation/production of forged date of birth certificates in a big way. The situation has also been taken note of and acknowledged by many international players.

Further, the petitioner has prayed that the respondents may be directed to fix the cut-off date of eligibility for playing Under-16, Under-19 and Under-23 as April 1 instead of September 1 of every year as the advertisement, which is issued in March/April, makes the players born between April 1 and August 31 ineligible and only the players born from September 1 to March 31 are only eligible. This arbitrary fixation of cut-off date, according to the petitioner, has shortened his eligibility period to seven months only instead of 12 months.

However, the counsel of the BCCI submitted that the petitioner should approach the BCCI as the decision would have Pan-India ramifications. The court directed the BCCI to treat the petition as representation of the petitioner and examine the issues and take the decision within six months.—