CK Khanna secures bailout for DDCA clubs from BCCI

In what is a major relief for the clubs playing in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) league this year, the BCCI has sanctioned 1.5 crore rupees for the subsidies to the clubs who have gone without any money this year.

The BCCI treasurer Anirudh Chaudhry, in a letter addressed to the BCCI and DDCA vice-president, Mr CK Khanna has promised to sanction the money to help the affected clubs. The letter says that the payment is made following a request by Mr Khanna.

The letter dated July 2 states, “Pursuant to your request, the Honorary Secretary has accorded approval to the grant of Rs. 1.5 crore advance against the amount due to DDCA keeping in view the fact that amount needs to be paid to the affiliated clubs (subsidy) for cricketing activities and other government payments.”  

The honorary secretary of the BCCI is Mr Anurag Thakur.  A copy of the letter is placed at the end of this article.

Over the past few days the issue was raked up at the DDCA and the clubs, that groom the upcoming players, had made their displeasure known as they struggled to meet expenses.

By now it has become common knowledge that the DDCA is really short of funds and there is a question mark over the conduct of elections and how they’ll be able to hold sports working committee elections. The BCCI has held back 10 crore rupees from the DDCA, as the state body has failed to submit a proper balance sheet. On top of that, an amount of close to 7 crore rupees is lying in a Central Bank account and it couldn’t be taken out as Mr Tihara’s close confidant Mr Sunil Dev had put the spanner in the works, terming the account illegal as according to him vice-president Mr Chetan Chauhan hadn’t sought his permission for shifting the DDCA money into this account.

Mr Dev says that the transfer from the regular account was illegal. However, Mr Chauhan, who has told people that he’d rather shoot himself dead than even think of doing anything illegal, says that the transfer of money was done because Mr Bansal had created plenty of accounts and the chequebooks of those had been missing. Mr Bansal had been accused of moving the money without the knowledge of directors for which he was removed last December. Mr Bansal, Mr Tihara and Mr Dev share a close rapport these days and form a faction whereas Mr Manchanda, Mr Khanna and Mr Chauhan form the other group.

In a way, Mr Chauhan did the right thing by moving the money into another account to make it and the chequebook safe. However, he blundered on the fact that he didn’t seek the signature of Mr Dev, who was one of the four signatories, and belonged to the rival camp. The bank didn’t release the funds after Mr Dev complained and asked DDCA else to replace Mr Dev as signatory.  The DDCA has since then done exactly that. But it seems the release of the funds is taking time.