Clubs to get subsidies finally

Dharna and hunger strike seem to have become part and parcel of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) these days. The sports working committee’s another threat of an agitation came a cropper as nothing happened on Tuesday. They had threatened a dharna earlier at Jantar Mantar too. But it seems these threats are meant only to ensure things go on track. Or are they expecting to earn some brownie points.

Anyway, some really good news came out of the DDCA. The clubs will finally get the subsidies. On Monday, the DDCA treasurer Mr Ravindra Manchanda, back from London, had feared the election officers would disallow the payment of subsidies.

However, it didn’t happen. The officers said this won’t affect the election process and that the subsidy could be released. “I don’t know if the election officer will allow the payment,” Mr Manchanda had told Delhi Cricket the other day. His fears were unfound.

The BCCI had paid 1.5 crore rupees upon the request of Mr CK Khanna to ensure that the clubs got their subsidies which haven’t been paid for the last three years.

It should also be noted that payment is also to be made to the judges. The two judges are to be paid 5 lakh rupees each. 

DDCA's irregularities touched by the media

For those of you unaware of this and not having had the time to read the papers, there was an interesting article on the conflict of interest in one of the national dailies, The Indian Express, last weekend.

The article, written by contributing editor Surjit Bhalla, talked about conflict of interest and how ministers involved in the running of the game of cricket vehemently opposed BCCI coming under Right to Information Act. It also said that the Prevention of Sporting Fraud Bill was announced by the Congress within three days of the IPL scandal of 2013. However, shockingly, the BCCI and IPL were kept out of it. We’ll reserve discussion on it for later period. What we’ll talk about is how the article made references copiously to the association we all love and hate in equal measure, the DDCA.

In 2007, BCCI’s NGO status was cancelled by the Union government. Before that, it was not taxed as it was supposed to be producing something for ‘public good’, a key requirement for an NGO.

It is here the article exposes the ills within the workings of the DDCA.

It says, “While it is difficult to obtain balance sheet data for the BCCI prior to 2007, the balance sheet data of one of its premier constituents, the DDCA, are available for two years, 1997-98 and 1999-2000. In Schedule I to R, it is reported that coaching expenses of the DDCA (the public good item) in 1997-98 were zilch (yes, zero) and in 1998-99, such expenses were Rs 20,727. Total DDCA income for the two years was Rs 88 lakh and Rs 200 lakh respectively. So, clearly not a lot was spent on coaching and maybe that is why the Delhi teams cannot win anything!”

It adds, “But one line item in the expenses sheet makes for extraordinary reading. The DDCA is a club, and as such, it serves liquor to its members and their guests. The income from “sale of empty bottles” (presumably liquor) was Rs 22,372 and Rs 24,406 in the two years. In other words, the DDCA received more income from the sale of empty liquor bottles than it spent on coaching.”

This is in the good old days, when probably coaches and coaching weren’t needed that much.  You may argue that DDCA is obviously a club and if people enjoy a drink, then what’s the harm. Also, you may say that at least they showed the sale of empty bottles as income.

However, what you’ll read further will shake you and make you wonder how inefficient DDCA has been:

“In 2010-11, the DDCA spent Rs 3.8 crore on renovation and beautification of toilets at the FSK (Ferozeshah Kotla) constructed just three years earlier, in 2007-08. The MSM (Mainstream media) did not find this newsworthy. Nor has it found it newsworthy to report that Lalit Modi spent Rs 20 crore in the renovation of the Sawai Mansingh stadium in Jaipur during 2005-08. The world can see the difference — the DDCA spending Rs 150 crore to “renovate” Kotla and what just Rs 20 crore can buy in Jaipur. Oh yes, not only has the DDCA spent money inefficiently, but it has also been illegally occupying the stadium ground for the last 12 years (the lease expired in 2002) — and has been allowed to do so primarily by the UPA, and now by the BJP.”

A couple of years back, Hindustan Times carried a report on how the DDCA is occupying the stadium without having paid the lease amount, making their occupation illegal. Well, till date no action has been taken. 

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. 

Hibernating cheques surprise election officer!

For the past few days, Ferozeshah Kotla has been witnessing frenetic activity with the two warring factions thrashing out details for the sports working committee elections that are to be held by early August. Retired judges GP Thareja and Babu Lal, it seems, are being as adamant and as matter-of-fact as they can. On the first day of discussions, there was lot of agitation and Thareja put his foot down, admonishing many senior officials.

The issue here is the sports working committee’s battle with the executive committee and a sports committee backed by them. The first step has already been taken --- a list of the 111 clubs is being put up on the board with their secretaries and/or voters mentioned on it.

The trick question comes now --- will all of these 111 clubs get to vote for a sports working committee?

The answer my dear readers is --- it could be no.

As many as six clubs are under dispute. While Ravi Brothers and Paragon Cricket Club are among the disputed from the opposition camp, KN Colts, Roop Nagar, Rani Bagh and Young association are those from the ruling Sports Working Committee faction. All but Paragon have court cases pending due to the dispute in the ownership.

When the issue arrives as to who will vote, then sparks could fly.

The other day Mr Rajeev Malhotra, the owner of the Paragon spoke about the issue with his club. Malhotra was pretty upset that despite his club not being among those under dispute, he, along with Ravi Brothers, didn’t get any matches this season.

“I can’t say about others, but my dispute looks to be a case of sports committee’s dadagiri. There is no dispute about the ownership about my club and I have all the papers to prove that everything is in order,” says Mr Malhotra.

“We were promised that we’ll get matches after January 14, 2015 but we were not given any game.”

It is surprising that Mr Malhotra’s travails began since 2013 when he had decided to end the long loyalty with the senior officials of the current sports committee. His separation from Mr Vinod Tihara helped him get into a ruling faction for one year, before Mr Tihara’s committee was back and his club ostracised.

“Last year I lost. I had campaigned against Mr Tihara, so obviously I never expected him to look at me favourably. But I don’t understand why my club is being penalised and not allowed to play,” says Mr Malhotra.

The sports working committee says that there are issues about the ownership and secretary-ship of the club. It should be noted that Mr Malhotra’s brother Mr Sanjeev Malhotra had been a previous secretary of the club.  

Anyway, the interesting thing that happened is yet to come and will shock all of you. As the rule goes, a private club is supposed to pay 750 rupees as annual subscription fees whereas an institutional club is supposed to pay 5000 rupees.

While many of the clubs had paid the subscription fees through cheques, it has been learnt that the sports committee failed to encash those cheques. As a result of it, most of the cheques lapsed. Both Paragon and Ravi Brothers weren’t given the chance to pay subscription and hence were away from the league. With the change in DDCA management in a December 9, 2014 meeting, when Mr Sneh Bansal was removed and Mr Chetan Chauhan took charge (as part of the KCM --- Khanna-Chauhan-Manchanda faction), Paragon’s Mr Malhotra and  Ravi Brothers’ Mr Ashok Sharma ensured that their clubs paid their subscription with the party at the top looking at them favourably. They deposited the cheques and got them cleared. So, in a way, the money from only these two clubs was cleared at that stage whereas the others were officially out.

As the news goes now, so far only 30-35 clubs’ cheques have been cleared with the receipts.

In fact, to the shock of everyone, one of the judges appointed as the election officer raised the issue with Mr Tihara, the convenor of the sports committee. He asked as to why the cheques have become invalid and lapsed. The judge has issued an order asking for fresh cheques from clubs which should be cleared by July 20.  

Sports Working Committee elections to be held in six weeks' time

By the way did any of you, dear readers, notice something unusual. The whatsapp messages, poking fun at others, didn’t come on Tuesday. REALLY?! We were shocked not to see it too. After all, there were all sorts of messages coming our way all these days. Stuff that showed the bankruptcy of minds and souls in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).

So what was the reason? It has been learnt that the Tees Hazari Courts, where the sports committee election date case was being heard, ticked off the officials and mentioned clearly in its order that such things have to be stopped. Well done, Court. While the nicknames and the funny bits made you laugh and gave you juicy bits to relish, they also made one wonder if people sitting at the home of Delhi cricket are really mature. Hope they do mature, now that the honourable court has intervened. 

Anyway the news is that the sports working committee elections will be held within six weeks and a couple of new election officers, GP Thareja and Babu Lal, two retired additional sessions judges, will oversee the elections. This is after justice KS Mohi was removed on Monday. But the point is the elections can’t be delayed now.

This verdict sent a wave of cheers in the KCM (Khanna- Chauhan-Manchanda) camp. Whereas the BTD (Bansal-Tihara-Dev) group was subdued. They didn’t straightway fire mails and whatsapp messages like they had the other day.  

In fact, it was the Delhi Cricket Council, which is backing the KCM group that served out a volley sending out a message which said that it was a tight slap on their face and their tactics of delaying the elections (and thereby keeping the whole affair in a limbo) has failed. So in brass tacks, the elections will be held by early August which is a relief for everyone. You don’t want to be like some university elections, which sometimes happen and sometimes don’t.

Now the whole issue boils down to how many clubs will support the current sports working committee convenor Mr Vinod Tihara and how many the other group. Mr Tihara had recently claimed that he has the support of 87 clubs, which practically means he has full support of everyone except clubs of those officials that are against him. Now this is a massive claim. It means that either he’ll win hands down or otherwise he’ll go back embarrassed. So let’s wait and watch.