With elections around, frustration over non-payment hits top gear

As elections to the DDCA Sports Committee near, there is a lot of tension building up. For those who may not know, then here is a fresh take on the old issue that keeps cropping up time and again. With the season coming to an end, umpires officiating at the DDCA league matches are getting nothing and neither is anything being paid to curators. An umpire recently told Delhi Cricket that many people are planning to leave the job because they are not getting the money due to them.

Two reports this year, one in the Hindustan Times which touched upon the point that the groundsmen are not getting anything and therefore chief curator Venkat Sundaram had quit and another in The Hindu which talked about non-payment to umpires, have brought the issue to light.

At the heart of this controversy is a clause in the Section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956, under which the DDCA has been constituted. It disallows payment to the members. In this case, many officials, including umpires, curators, coaches and selectors are ineligible to be paid as they also happen to be members.

Sunil Dev, the sports secretary, is reportedly not signing cheques that are due to umpires. Sports Committee officials, including chairman, Ahmad Tameem has made their displeasure known. However, Dev denies it and says he is willing to sign them. “I have no problems and I am ready to sign,” he says.

Speaking on the issue, DDCA president Sneh Bansal clarified to Delhi Cricket, “Who says Sunil Dev is not signing the cheques. He is ready to do so. It is just that a clause doesn’t allow payments to members. Now, if we release cheques to the non-members, won’t the members feel bad? We have written to the ministry of corporate affairs and are awaiting their reply. If they give the go-ahead then we would make payments, otherwise we’ll think of a solution.”

That Arun Jaitley is the Union Finance Minister may just help DDCA’s cause a bit and it would be a relief to many who are sweating it out in scorching summer.

In the case of no permission, the likely solution is that non-members will be paid the money as fees while members will be paid under the head ‘expenses’.

However, the current Sports Committee, which has decided to change a lot of things, is getting edgy. They want the payments to be made before the elections take place (in July) and therefore are not blamed for the impasse.

Passi inducted, blackmail in DDCA continues

As this sports committee’s tenure comes to an end, there is a look of desperation on a lot of faces. On Sunday, the day the team for National T20 knockouts was announced, the father of Saurabh Passi reportedly broke the glass panel of the bar at the Ferozeshah Kotla in rage. His lament was that his son hasn’t been picked in the side for the T20 knockouts that are now taking place in West Zone.

The sports committee members hauled up the chairman of selectors, Chetan Chauhan, and also another selector. On Wednesday, a release from the sports committee boss Ahmed Tameem said that Passi has been included. The issue goes on to show how the current committee is being exploited by people who provided it with support. In such an instance can Delhi cricket prosper.

Also, the Delhi state team that is playing in Mumbai and lost its first two games to weak teams is a depleted squad. The top players have joined their IPL teams’ camps and have therefore excused themselves from the National T20s from Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. As Delhi skipper Gautam Gambhir, who has joined the KKR camp, recently put it, “It is the BCCI that has to think about rescheduling it.”

Well, the BCCI had already rescheduled it once before and now they have to do it again. It seems the board has too much cricket on its plate.

Questions over selection panel, Sehwag considered for Delhi captaincy

One of the mysteries of Delhi cricket this year has been the Under-25 team which crashed out of the championships thanks to some ordinary selection policies. Sanjay Srivastava had allegedly held the sports committee team to ransom, and apparently got his way to have his son Shelly Shaurya installed as the Delhi U-25 skipper.

The team crashed out quite early and not without controversies. The chairman of the Under-25 selection panel, NP Singh was abused by a former Delhi cricketer after senior cricketer Yogesh Nagar was left out of the team. It created such a furore that DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan had to go to the then DDCA president, Arun Jaitley, to apprise him of the controversy. It has been learnt that he also requested him to change the panel, especially remove NP Singh who is considered to be very close to the current sports committee.

Quite surprisingly, NP is now sitting along with Chetan Chauhan in the senior selection committee as one of the decision makers for Delhi’s limited overs team that is to play in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s as well as Vijay Hazare one-dayers later this month.

The sports committee had decided to change the selection senior panel after the poor performance in Ranji Trophy and only chairman Chetan Chauhan survived.

The probables for the games will be announced on Friday evening and a lot of fireworks are expected to take place in the DDCA.

Of much interest will be the announcement of the Delhi skipper. It has been learnt that the selection committee, pressed by the sports committee, is likely to install Virender Sehwag as the captain of the limited overs team, replacing Gautam Gambhir who was the skipper in the longer format of Delhi during this domestic season. If it happens, it won’t be without a lot of debate. 

 

 

 

Delhi selection commitee changed, Gidwani back

In what could be a last-ditch effort by the current Sports Committee to save face, the selection panel has been completely overhauled ahead of the one-dayers and T20 games. Only Chetan Chauhan, the chairman of selectors retains his post while the other four, including former Vivek Razdan, have been replaced by Hari Gidwani, Varun Kumar, NP Singh and Anil Jain. Sports secretary Sunil Dev will continue to be the convenor. The Delhi team’s pathetic show left a lot to be desired. Inspite of having players like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra, the team failed to make it to the knockouts. In fact, there had been discussions for a long time to bring about changes. One wonders though, if just changing the selection panel alone will bring Delhi some luck. The Sports Committee met on Monday evening to discuss the matter and subsequently the change was made. “We want to start afresh and do well in limited overs format,” said a member of the sports committee.

New selection panel: Chetan Chauhan (chairman), Varun Kumar, NP Singh, Anil Jain and Hari Gidwani

 

How DDCA can't pay their members as per Companies Act

A few weeks back, it came to light that Virat Kohli’s mentor Rajkumar Sharma was threatening to quit from his post of state’s U-19 coach.

Sharma, who headed Delhi’s only successful team at the national level this year – the U-19 team made the semifinals while other state teams faltered, rubbished it later but the news spread like wildfire and disconcerted quite a few officials.

True or not, talks like these have been gaining ground.

And what is making such disillusionment among coaches and other staff members popular is the law under which the Delhi and District Cricket Association lies. The Section 25 of the Companies Act under which DDCA (and even Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh bodies) are registered cannot pay their members if they use their services.

“Since cricket is a professional sport and requires a lot of skill and training, very often we have to turn to our former players who are also the members of the association. The problem occurs as we cannot pay them other than out of pocket expenses or other minimal expenses,” says DDCA president Sneh Bansal, who replaced Arun Jaitely as the head of the body. “It is futile if we import coaches as they’ll ask for a lot of money.”

The only way they can make salary payments is through a special application to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

“We have filed an application and are awaiting the permission. Whatever the government says, we’ll abide by it,” says Bansal.

In fact, vice-president Chetan Chauhan is getting only 2 to 2.5 lakh per annum, for his expenses only. It is well below the standard salaries.

Just recently, the minister of state for the MCA was posed a question in a Parliament session as to whether the ministry is taking any action regarding the flouting of rules, apparently regarding the payment of salaries. The minister replied yes, admitting that action has been taken.

The top bosses in DDCA say they have already paid the fine and they paid to their members as it was the prevailing system and ‘it was being followed for over 50 years’.

“We have paid fines and now changed the system and are looking for permission,” said a senior official.

Where is the space to play in Delhi?

State cricket bodies have got a lot of money flowing into their coffers. And it is largely thanks to the money the BCCI is raking in these days. With the position paper set to be passed, BCCI will probably be surrounded with far more money thanks to its bigger share in the surplus money.

It also means that state bodies have a lot of cash to spend on the local and district cricket. But just as they’ve got money, so have everyone in the Capital, it seems.

With money everywhere and cricket becoming very popular in its T20 format, and space coming at a premium these days, the grounds have jacked up their prices.

They know the corporate bodies can pay as much as 15-20,000 a day to hire a ground, so why not exploit it.

Resultantly, the grounds are now out of reach for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) that wants to host the league games on Saturdays and Sundays.

A lot of parents have spoken to Delhi Cricket and they complain the kids usually play on the weekdays and often neglect their school and studies. “Why can’t they host matches on Saturdays and Sundays?” complained one.

They were upset when they got to know the reason.

“We are told that we can’t hire grounds on weekends, which is why you’ll say most of our league games on weekdays. On the weekdays, many of the youngsters keep off,” said a member of the current sports committee.

Madan Lal being pushed to coach Delhi Ranji team

Sorry guys, was away for a while. But yeah, I have got back and with lots of news. Recent reports coming out of the Delhi and District Cricket Association suggests that the new sports committee has been demanding the head of Delhi Ranji Trophy team coach Sanjeev Sharma, the former India cricketer who couldn’t lead Delhi through to the knockouts. They want to bring in Madan Lal, the 1983 World Cup star, who had lost in the recent DDCA elections. Interestingly, Maddipa as Lal is popularly known in cricketing circles had shown disinterest in coaching. During the new sports committee’s inauguration, Maddipa took the initiative to speak and said he doesn’t want any job from the DDCA. So, has he changed his stance or he is being pushed into the hot seat. Of course, he is free from major responsibilities these days as he has lost the elections.