The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday adjourned hearing till June 16 on a petition filed by former skipper Shahid Khan Afridi against disciplinary proceedings of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Afridi went to the court after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) punished him for allegedly breaching a code of conduct by announcing his retirement after he was dumped as one-day captain. It suspended his central contract and revoked all his no-objection certificates (NOCs), which would have allowed him to play in England where he was due to represent Hampshire in the Twenty20 league and Sri Lanka. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Aqeel Abbasi heard the petition. Counsel for PCB, Tafazzul Rizvi Advocate, challenged the high court’s jurisdiction in the case and argued that the petitioner should have moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) as the PBC headquarters was in Lahore.
Rizvi contended that a no-objection certificate (NOC) is issued to the players by the PCB under central contract and if the board suspends the central contract of any player, it is not bound to retain the NOC. He added the petitioner was supposed to appear before the disciplinary committee to submit his explanation and try to prove him innocent. The court asked the PCB counsel to submit a detailed reply regarding maintainability of the petition. He sought time to submit detailed comments, on which the court accepted his request. Earlier, the court had stayed the committee’s proceedings against Afridi.
Afridi’s lawyer, Syed Ali Zafar, sent a letter to the PCB in a bid to resolve the dispute and stressed repeatedly that they just wanted a due process to be followed and that the act of suspension of the central contract and withdrawal of the NOC were punishments before giving a hearing to the player.
He said the PCB lawyers were using delaying tactics, causing financial losses to Afridi, so he was considering suing the board. The court said if the petitioner was facing financial losses, he should file a suit for damages.