Jammu, Sep 29: Former police officer and veteran cricketer Sudershan Mehta has issued a fierce rebuttal to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), accusing it of engaging in “malicious and defamatory propaganda” following its statement on the dismissal of his petition in the High Court.
In a strongly worded clarification, as per news agency JKNS Mehta said the JKCA’s press release was a “calculated act of aggravated criminal defamation and a contemptuous fraud upon the public,” alleging that the association misrepresented the High Court order, revived nullified allegations, and attempted to tarnish his decades-long service and sporting record.
Mehta said that the JKCA’s remarks is a “calculated act of aggra-vated criminal defamation and a con-temptuous fraud upon the public.” He alleged that the JKCA “deliberately misrepresented the High Court order, republished judicially nullified alle-gations and maligned his service and sporting record.
Mehta said the JKCA’s claim that the petition was dismissed as a “frivo-lous writ petition” questioning his locus standi was “an unequivocal dis tortion.” He maintained that the High Court in WP(C) No. 2685/2025 explicit ly disposed of the petition only on the “technical and procedural ground of lack of territorial jurisdiction” while
leaving the merits of the case open. “By publicly declaring the petition baseless and questioning my locus standi, JKCA has fabricated facts.
On Allegations of Corruption Responding to JKCA’s reference to past marred by morally corrupt practices, Mehta said the allegations were the subject of Government Order No 403-Home of 2022, which had directed punitive recovery from his pension. That punitive order was “unequivocally quashed and set aside by the High Court in its judgement in WP(C) No 2027/2025 on September 11, 2025,” Mehta said in his rebuttal.
“The Hon’ble court not only found the recovery action to be procedur ally flawed and legally unsustainable but also found that the entire disci-plinary action lacked the necessary statutory foundation from the very beginning. Republishing finding nul-lified by Division Bench of the High Court on fundamental principles of law is a contemptuous and malicious. act,” he said.
Responding to JKCA’s statement referring to mindset driven. by envy and obstructionism. Mehta said that the assertion was a “desperate and generic attempt to deflect attention from the sub-stantive legal issues raised against the JKCA” and was an attempt to “misrepresent the technical ruling as a vindication of its (JKCA’s) own clean hands and a finding of criminality against the petitioner (Mehta).
Mehta took exception to JKCA’s characterisation of him as a “retired junior police officer” and “self-pro-claimed ex-cricketer.”
He pointed out that he retired as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (Selection Grade) after three decades of ser vice and was twice recommended for the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service.
Mehta said he represented J&K in the Ranji Trophy between 1985 and 1996, played for the Northern Zone U-19 and U-22 teams, and was the first cricketer from J&K to score a century in the Col. C.K. Nayudu Trophy in 1979. He also served multiple terms as Joint Secretary of JKCA and is a current Working Committee member.
Dismissing JKCA’s claim of an “intra-club dispute”. Mehta said the Modern Cricket Club Jammu has been affiliated with JKCA since 1972 and that he has been its presi dent since 1998. He added that JKCA itself officially recognised him in March 2025 while circulating its Supreme Court-mandated consti-tution. (JKNS)
