HCA ordered to remove Mohammed Azharuddin's name from Uppal Stadium stand: Report
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) has been ordered to remove Former Indian Cricket Team captain Mohammed Azharuddin’s name from the North Pavilion Stand of the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. The directive comes following an order from the HCA's Ombudsman and Ethics Officer, Justice V. Eswaraiah, who cited a clear conflict of interest in the decision to name the stand after Azharuddin.
The controversy dates back to a November 25, 2019, Apex Council meeting chaired by Azharuddin, during which the decision was made to rename the VVS Laxman Pavilion as the ‘Azharuddin Stand’.
According to a report from Cricbuzz, the ruling was passed on April 19 after a complaint was lodged earlier this year by city-based outfit Lords Cricket Club (LCC), one of HCA’s 226 affiliated units. The complaint, filed on February 28, 2025, argued that naming the North Stand after Azharuddin was in violation of HCA’s Memorandum of Association and its internal rules.
Moreover, the petitioner also pleaded to rename the Azharuddin stand as the VVS Laxman pavilion "for all practical purposes including but not limited to signages, printing of tickets etc. and pass any such order or orders as are deemed fit and proper in the circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice."
Azharuddin, however, has denied all charges of a conflict of interest and said that he will approach the High Court challenging Eswaraiah’s order.
“There’s no conflict of interest in this. I don’t want to comment, I don’t want to stoop to this level. The cricketing world will laugh at the association. 17 years of cricket, almost 10 years as captain of the side, and with distinction. This is how you treat cricketers in Hyderabad. It’s a very sad state of affairs,” the 62-year-old was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
Azharuddin added that legal recourse would certainly be taken, stating, “We will definitely go to court, and the law will take its course.”
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Indigo flights chaos: SCR to run special trains to clear passenger rush
Hyderabad (PTI): The South Central Railway on Saturday announced that it would run four special trains to manage the surge in passengers resulting from the large-scale cancellation of IndiGo flights here.
The move comes as flyers face significant disruption and long queues at the airport due to the cancellation.
A press release from the SCR said it is running the special trains to clear the extra rush of passengers to Chennai, Mumbai and Shalimar (Kolkata) from Hyderabad today.
Meanwhile, as many as 43 outbound Indigo flights were cancelled from here on Saturday, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport sources said.
ALSO READ: IndiGo cancels over 200 flights from Delhi, Mumbai on Saturday
Similarly, 26 incoming flights are also likely to be cancelled during the day, they said.
The flight cancellations drew ire from passengers, who thronged the IndiGo counters at the airport demanding to know the exact situation.
“This is utter nonsense! Digiyatra done, message received that departure has been rescheduled ahead of the scheduled departure and now upon arriving at Hyderabad airport coming to know at the security checkpoint that Indigo flight is cancelled,” Tarun Singha, former Ministry of Defence spokesperson said in a post on X.
“But the thing is if you don’t shout they do nothing. Example at Hyderabad Airport, there was no staff no flight information for an hour. Then a fellow passenger started shouting on mic and an Indigo staff appeared finally,” a netizen said in a post.
On Friday, when IndiGo cancelled over 1,000 flights from across airports, its CEO Pieter Elbers apologised in a video message for the major inconvenience caused to passengers due to the disruptions.
In the one-way video communication, Elbers also said that the airline was expecting fewer than 1,000 flights on Saturday.
