LAHORE: Noman Butt, who has been under spotlight since boycotting the Board of Governors meeting in Quetta in April this year, heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday when his election as the president of Sialkot Region was cleared by the Pakistan Cricket Board adjudicator who rejected Zulfiqar Malik’s appeal.

Zulfiqar, also a former president of the Sialkot Cricket Association, had raised some objections in his appeal against the election as a result of which Noman and Naeem Ahmed were elected as president and secretary of the region, respectively. Zulfiqar challenged the PCB notification, dated 8.2.2019, which declared them successful candidates.

But PCB adjudicator retired Justice Mian Hamid Farooq rejected it for filing the appeal after passing out considerable time, mentioned in the constitution.

Noman, who has just passed through heart surgery in Lahore, however, is still suspended as member of the Board of Governors. Among the five members who protested at the BoG meeting in Quetta, Noman is the only one who remained steadfast over the stance of boycotting the said meeting at which the PCB wanted to get its proposed changes in the domestic cricket set-up approved. Under the proposed set-up, departmental cricket outfits will cease to exist and region-based system comprising six provincial teams will constitute domestic game in the country.

Later, four BoG members — Abdullah Shahrez Rokhari (Lahore), Ayaz Butt (KRL), Kabir Khan (Fata) and Shah Dost (Quetta) — settled their issues with the PCB.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2019