LAHORE , July 6, 2023: Zaka Ashraf on Thursday assumed charge as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) newly formed interim management committee.
The officials of the cricket board welcomed Mr Ashraf as he reached the PCB headquarters in Lahore. He will chair the first meeting of the 10-member committee later today.
A day earlier, the federal cabinet gave nod to the committee through the circulation of a summary. The 10-member committee has been authorised to run the cricket affairs for the period of four months.
The other members of the committee include Kaleem Ullah Khan, Ashfaq Akhtar, Musaddiq Islam, Zaheer Abbas, Khurram Karim Somroo, Azmat Parvez, Khuwaja Nadeem, Zulfiqar Malik and Mustafa Ramday.
Furthermore, the government has also appointed Mahmood Iqbal as PCB’s chief election commissioner, replacing Ahmed Shehzad Farooq Rana.
Mr Ashraf has replaced former PCB chief Najam Sethi, who stepped down from the position to end confrontation between the PML-N and PPP.
On July 3, the Lahore High Court (LHC) allowed elections for the slot of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman after withdrawing its stay order.
Justice Anwar Hussain announced the ruling on a petition filed against the PCB chairman election which is scheduled to take place on June 27.
The petitioner argued that the PCB election commissioner had illegally made changes in the board of governors formed by the iterim management committee. He pleaded the court to declare the election commissioner’s action illegal, voiding his move to form the new board of governors.
During the hearing, the PCB lawyer said several petitions against the PCB elections were also pending with Justice Shahid Karim, adding that the judge had not issued any verdict.
After hearing arguments, Justice Anwar withdrew the stay order issued on June 28. He also sent the matter to the LCH chief justice, asking him to club all the cases against elections of the PCB chairman.
On June 27, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) had also stopped the PCB from holding elections for the chairman slot.