Pawar restrained from functioning as Mumbai cricket chief

A Mumbai court Tuesday restrained union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar from discharging his functions as the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president.

The Mumbai city civil court's order came in a suit filed by senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde, challenging the rejection of his nomination for the post of MCA president in the elections held last month on the technical ground that he was not a permanent resident of Mumbai.

Munde's lawyer Niranjan Bhadang contended that Munde was a permanent resident of Mumbai and owned property in the city although he was enrolled in his constituency Parli-Vaijnath in Beed district of Maharashtra.

Moreover, former union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had also been granted appropriate relief in an identical matter in 2011 so there could not be two different yardsticks applied by the MCA in a similar matter, he argued.

While granting the restraint order, the court has allowed Pawar a week's time to appeal in a higher court.

After Munde's nomination papers for contesting the MCA elections against Pawar were rejected, he was granted time to appeal. This was also rejected by the MCA, paving the way for Pawar's election to the post unopposed.

Crying foul, Munde had moved the court challenging the MCA ruling in the matter.