Former cricketer and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirti Azad had raised the issue of financial irregularities in the DDCA, which prompted parliament to refer the matter to the home ministry.
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This means the DDCA is now likely to get a grant of around Rs. 30 crore from the BCCI, which should allow it to meet the Delhi government’s demand of entertainment tax. “At this time, the government would refrain from commenting about conjectures on the capability of the DDCA in hosting the Test match between India and South Africa next month”, the government said in a statement issued on Thursday evening.
The India versus South Africa final Test, to be held in the first week of December, is nearly set to be ordered out of Delhi, after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked a two-man committee – comprising secretaries in the sports and urban development departments – to investigate allegations of widespread corruption within the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA).
The government move came days after it received complaints about the alleged irregularities in the DDCA. But it was Delhi Ranji Trophy skipper and former India opener Gautam Gambhir who succeeded in meeting the Delhi CM. “We had been exempted from entertainment tax during that period (2008-12) and now we see that those exemption years have also been included”, DDCA vice president Chetan Chauhan told PTI on Wednesday.
The balance sheet, which has been signed by the DDCA directors, has been sent to the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai. So while DDCA claims they owe no more than Rs 5 crore, the government has asked for Rs 24 crore.
It is understood that on November 10 prominent former Delhi cricketers, led by former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi, met Kejriwal.
“BCCI should be wide awake to the fact that they are running Rajasthan Cricket Association so why can’t they appoint their own committee to run the affairs of DDCA”, he opined.
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Bedi also said the ongoing fight for a clean DDCA was not new for the veteran cricketers. Of course, there is an issue of entertainment tax. Either the government disposes of the memorandum, but that would not be done considering it was supported by eminent names like Bedi.
