Chirya fails Sethi, Zaka back in PCB saddle

• IHC dismisses premier’s orders, clears road for Zaka Ashraf’s return on PCB chairman’s post
• Zaka Ashraf says court’s order ‘a win for Pakistan cricket’
• Sethi says instability in PCB ‘is not good for cricket’

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Saturday dismissed the order issued by Prime Minister and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Patron Nawaz Sharif on February 10 that removed Zaka Ashraf from the post of PCB chairman and formed an eight-member committee led by Najam Sethi, “naturally” bringing Ashraf back at the helm of affairs. However, the detailed court order, likely on Monday, will further clarify the bigger picture.

Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi, heading the single-member bench at IHC, was the judge hearing petitions against the PCB challenging the termination of a number of employees in the board, including that of former chief selector Mohammad Ilyas. Although Ashraf was not the petitioner, he was made a party to it.

“We did not file the petition but were made a party of various petitions against Najam Sethi for termination of dozens of employees,” Ashraf’s laywer Affan Kundi told the journalists.

“Wrapping up various petitions, the judge suspended the SRO issued by the premier on February 10. And the natural legal interpretation suggests that Zaka Ashraf is back as chairman. I am not sure if there is any other interpretation but meanwhile this is the best understanding of the judge’s remarks,” he added.

Speaking on the court orders, Zaka Ashraf said, “This is a win for Pakistan cricket. I will try to correct the wrong things in Pakistan cricket and do whatever is good for it.”

In the meanwhile, Najam Sethi said that he was going to wait for the detailed order and it was up to the government to appeal against it.

“The instability in the PCB is not good for cricket,” Sethi said.

BACK IN TIME:

On February 10, Sharif had superseded Ashraf-led governing board and directed a management committee to pick a PCB chairman from among its eight members. The committee chose Najam Sethi, who has acted as interim chairman while Ashraf was suspended in 2013 by the same court.

Sethi has been working as the PCB chairman, leading the eight-member ad-hoc management committee that also included former PCB chairman Shahriyar Khan, former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas, Punjab Chief Secretary Naveed Akram Cheema, former members of PCB board of governors Shakeel Sheikh and Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, former cricketer Iqbal Qasim and IPC Secretary Ijaz Chaudhry.

In the last 12 months, Ashraf had been removed as the PCB chairman twice. He was suspended in May 2013 by the Islamabad High Court after it ruled that he had been elected via a “dubious and polluted” process. However, after a complicated legal process, he was reinstated by the same court on January 15 this year before Sharif dismissed him again on February 10.