No honour yet for late Ajit Wadekar

Ajit Wadekar

Friday, April 1, was an apt day for the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) to pay tribute to the late Ajit Wadekar. It was the former India captain's 81st birth anniversary. Although the MCA Apex Council has decided to name the Wankhede Stadium lounge after Wadekar, the implementation would have only happened in the Annual General Meeting of the MCA. The MCA had scheduled the AGM for March 19, but decided to postpone it just four days before the date. However, the MCA members decided to go ahead with the AGM, citing no provision in the constitution to postpone the AGM.

The report of the AGM, which was chaired by veteran MCA member Shripad Halbe, was submitted to the association recently, but it was sent back by the MCA officials. "There is a question mark over the sanctity of the AGM. So, how can the report be accepted? The AGM was not officially called by the MCA," an association official told mid-day on Friday.

Wadekar's wife Rekha had recently written to MCA to consider her late husband's name for the MCA's upcoming museum instead of naming the Wankhede lounge after him. The Apex Council decided to stick to their decision as consent was already taken from Sharad Pawar to name the museum after the former MCA president himself.