Delhi cricket authority, civic body spar over ODI

The India-Sri Lanka One Day International cricket match scheduled for December 27 at Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in the Capital seems to have run into rough weather.

The India-Sri Lanka One Day International cricket match scheduled for December 27 at Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in the Capital seems to have run into rough weather.

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The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has, so far, only given a provisional clearance to Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) — the agency that manages and maintains the stadium — to organise the match.

The MCD claims the DDCA does not have the necessary clearances such as the structure stability certificate, no objection certificate (NOC) from the Chief Fire Officer, NOC from the assistant electrical inspector and NOC from the additional commissioner (revenue).

The officials in the MCD said if the DDCA does not get the necessary clearance before December 27, it will hold the match “at its own risk”.

The civic body maintains provisional certificate has been granted to the DDCA at the last moment, keeping “national interest” in mind.

“We have provided them a provisional clearance to go ahead with the match,” said Deep Mathur, MCD Director (Press and Information).

The MCD had written to the DDCA on December 18 (a copy of the letter is with HT) where it said it can’t grant permission to the Delhi cricket authority to use the stadium on December 27 as the latter did not have all the requisite clearances.

DDCA, however, maintained it had been given permission by the MCD and the match will be held as per schedule.

“They have given us permission to go ahead,” said S.P. Bansal, general secretary, DDCA.

The DDCA had earlier written to the MCD for grant of a provisional occupancy certificate from December 1 to December 31 for the fifth one-day international cricket match between India and Sri Lanka.