ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed a petition filed by cricketer Sharjeel Khan against imposition of a five-year ban on him over a spot-fixing scandal.

The anti-corruption tribunal of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had last year imposed the ban on the left-handed batsman over charges of spot fixing in Pakistan Super League (PSL). He was accused of playing two dot balls in one of the PSL matches.

Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC dismissed the cricketer’s petition for want of jurisdiction.

During the hearing, Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan raised the objection that the IHC lacked territorial jurisdiction to entertain the petition since the tribunal, which convicted the cricketer, had conducted the trial in Lahore.

In his petition, Mr Khan had cited the ministries of law and inter-provincial coordination, PCB chairman, independent adjudicator of NCA Lahore and PCB’s anti-corruption tribunal chairman as respondents.

The counsel stated that petitioner Sharjeel was an international cricketer who made his debut in 2013 and was charged by the PCB for committing violations of the board’s anti-corruption code. He added that the notice of demand was issued to the petitioner on Feb 13, 2017 under Article 4.3 of the code to appear before the PCB’s security and vigilance department on Feb 17.

The petitioner’s so-called interview was conducted on the above-mentioned date and then on Feb 18 a notice of charge under Article 4.6 was issued to Sharjeel Khan.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2018