Delhi govt recommends suspension of DDCA, replacement by interim body

In mounting trouble for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), a Delhi Government-appointed probe panel on Tuesday recommended suspension of the capital’s cricket administrator by the BCCI for alleged irregularities and said an interim committee of professionals should be appointed to replace it.

In mounting trouble for the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), a Delhi Government-appointed probe panel on Tuesday recommended suspension of the capital’s cricket administrator by the BCCI for alleged irregularities and said an interim committee of professionals should be appointed to replace it.

The recommendation to suspend the DDCA came when the cricket body was struggling to meet BCCI’s deadline to get all required clearances to host the fourth Test match between India and South Africa at Feroz Shah Kotla ground commencing on December 3.(Virendra Singh Gosain/HT Photo)

The report of the panel came when the DDCA was struggling to meet BCCI’s deadline to get all required clearances from authorities by Tuesday to host the fourth Test match between India and South Africa commencing on December 3.

The probe committee recommended appointing a professional body of cricketers to run cricket administration in the city and said a commission of inquiry should be set up to probe various alleged irregularities, including financial bunglings, in DDCA, government sources said.

They said the three-member committee, headed by Chetan Sanghi, Principal Secretary of Vigilance Department, also recommended bringing the cricket administration under the Right to Information Act to ensure transparency.

Read | DDCA’s issues go far beyond hosting 4th India vs South Africa Test

The panel felt its report should be handed over to the Supreme Court-appointed Justice RM Lodha committee, which probed the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal. The Lodha Committee is currently working on its recommendations to reform the way the BCCI functions.

The government is studying the report of the three-member panel about the DDCA’s functioning, the sources said, adding there was no relationship between hosting of the fourth Test match and inquiry into the cricket administrator’s functioning.

As per the Excise department, DDCA owes it Rs 24 crore as entertainment tax. A clearance by excise department was required to host the Test match at at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium.

The sources said excise commissioner is a quasi judicial authority and DDCA was free to go to the appellate tribunal and courts against the tax demand, claiming that government has no role on the issue.