Former captain Sushil Nadkarni and Ajay Jhamb have served new lawsuits in the most recent legal dispute with USA Cricket. After the Nomination and Governance Committee (NGC) of the Board decided to exclude Nadkarni and Jhamb from running for the positions of player director and league director, respectively, the plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against Vince Adams, Nisarg Patel, Sara Farooq, and Jim Isch.
According to the case, the plaintiffs are requesting that the court order USA Cricket to dissolve a “illegally” constituted NGC and create a new NGC that complies with the law. Additionally, the plaintiffs have asked that the elections scheduled for February 6 be invalidated since the NGC was “improperly” constituted and lacked the power to offer candidates to the Board in a lawful manner.
The NGC ‘flimsily’ banned Nadkarni from running for player director, as Cricbuzz previously reported, citing his failure to submit a resume or CV. Nadkarni claims he conformed by including a link to his LinkedIn profile. But Jhamb’s ineligibility for the league director position is much more obvious. The NGC rejected several applications, including Jhamb’s to only field two candidates for the election, in what may be a blatant violation of the USAC constitution, which mandates the NGC to field at least three candidates for the office of League Director. Anj Balusu, one of the two final applicants, was allegedly removed of his individual membership with USA Cricket because his birthday was missing, which is another claim made in the case.
“For the past several decades, I have volunteered in the St. Louis area cricket community. My primary objective is to help the US community as a whole by promoting the game’s expansion here. We have tried everything to fix this issue amicably, but NGC and the USAC have not responded, leaving us with no choice except to seek redress in court. Our genuine hope is that USA Cricket will now pay attention to our issues and act in accordance with the Constitution and in the cricket community’s best interest “Founder of the nonprofit American Cricket Academy and Club, Jhamb.
The complaint was filed in response to a scathing letter sent by the presidents of leagues connected to USA Cricket, which accused Adams’ NGC of many constitutional infractions.
In the letter, it was questioned whether Adams and Patel’s participation in the NGC violated Section 9.5(A) of the USAC Constitution, which forbids USA Cricket officers, directors, employees, and consultants from participating in official USA Cricket business. The letter made the case that Adams should be regarded as an officer or consultant because he functioned as a Cricket Committee member with the authority to execute. Adams most recently served on the selection committee for the men’s head coach. In addition, because Patel is a current international player under contract with the board, the letter judged him to be a paid employee/consultant of USA Cricket.
The court issued a restraining order against the upcoming elections as immediate relief for the plaintiffs, and the case is scheduled for hearing in the third week of February. In a subsequent media statement, USA Cricket announced the postponing of the elections due to an incomplete independent audit of the electorate, but neglected to acknowledge receiving the lawsuit. The media announcement further recommended the candidates to continue their election campaigns notwithstanding the court’s restraining order.
