Himachal HC directs BCCI to come up with a mechanism to prevent forging of birth certificates

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to come up with a mechanism to check and verify the age of the U19 cricketers so that no player can produce a forged date of birth certificate. The petitioner alleged that the process of verifying the facts has been out of practice for quite some time now, and thus the HC has directed the BCCI to arrive at a decision six months from now.

The Division Bench, that passed this order, comprised CJ Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua. The order was passed after a writ petition was filed by Suresh Kumar (then a minor), with the help of his father Dole Ram, in the year 2019. The petitioner had challenged the communication dated July 22, 2015, as well as the BCCI Age Verification Program 2015-16, in which eligibility for the Under-19 age group was determined using the birth certificate, issued by the Government of India, as the primary evidence and hospitals and schools record as secondary.

Petitioner also asked to set the eligibility cut-off date

The petitioner had asked the court to order the respondents to follow the BCCI protocol, which states that in the case of a player who has already competed in the Under-16 tournament on the basis of a TW3 bone test, his age calculated using the TW3 bone age test may be used to determine his age, and the age so determined may be carried forward by adding one year per season for Under-19 and the Under-23 age group.

According to Times of India, the petitioner prayed that the respondents be directed to set the eligibility cut-off date for playing Under-16, Under-19, and Under-23 as April 1 rather than September 1 each year. The reason for the same was the advertisement, which is published in March/April, states that players born between April 1 and August 31 are ineligible to compete in age group category tournaments, and only players born between September 1 and March 31 are eligible.

According to the petitioner, this subjective cut-off date led to his eligibility period being reduced to seven months instead of 12 months. The petitioner had alleged corruption allegations in the form of fake birth certificates being created. Keeping all in mind, the Himachal HC ordered the BCCI to take action in order to resolve the issue by looking into the matter seriously.