HC gives no relief to Shetty on plea challenging MCA rule

The Bombay High Court today declined to grant interim relief to top Cricket Board official Ratnakar Shetty who had challenged a recent amendment in byelaws of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) which disqualified him from contesting its elections.
A Bench headed by Justice S J Vajifdar observed that at this juncture the court was not inclined to grant ad-interim relief prayed by Shetty, who is BCCI General Manager (Game Development), in his petition.
The amendment had barred Shetty from contesting MCA elections on the ground he was a paid employee of the Board and hence would not be able to take a firm stand against BCCI whenever the situation arose in sensitive matters.

Shetty, in his petition, prayed for a stay on this amendment and sought relief to contest elections of the Association scheduled to be held on October 18.
Earlier, the High Court had upheld a civil court's order to stay the five-year ban imposed by MCA on Shetty. The court had said the action against Shetty was "pre-determined and drastic".
Shetty, who has served MCA in various capacities over the last two decades, had been banned by the Association for alleging that some office-bearers of MCA might be involved in black marketing of tickets of the India-Pakistan T20 match played at Ahmedabad on December 28 last year.