The Uttarakhand High Court has issued a notice to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) following petitions seeking an inquiry into the alleged misuse of ₹12 crore by the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU), including ₹35 lakh spent on “bananas for players”.
Said funds were supposedly earmarked for organising cricket tournaments.
The petitions were filed by Dehradun resident Sanjay Rawat and others. They highlighted an audit report of CAU’s 2024-25 accounts, conducted by an external auditor, which mentioned shocking expenses.
According to the audit, the association paid ₹6.4 crore as event management fees, Indian Express reports. CAU also spent ₹26.3 crore on tournaments and trial matches, up from ₹22.3 crore the previous year.
Petitioners alleged that despite these huge expenses, the players never received the facilities promised to them.
The petitioners accused CAU of siphoning off crores of rupees in the name of food and player expenses. They argued that money meant for cricket development was misused for personal benefit. The High Court has listed the case for the next hearing on Friday.
Tender row over Uttarakhand Premier League
The daily also highlighted another case heard by the High Court on September 5, which alleged unfair practices in the tender process for the upcoming Uttarakhand Premier League (UPL) 2025, which is set to start on September 23.
The petition, filed by former CAU vice-president Surendra Bhandari, claimed that the contract was handed over to just one company without a fair bidding process. A bench of Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Subhash Upadhyay sent notices to the BCCI, the Uttarakhand Cricket Board, and its officials, asking them to reply.
Bhandari also reminded the court that CAU was recognised by BCCI in 2019 and, since then, the national cricket body has given more than Rs 22 crore in funding. However, instead of improving facilities and nurturing talent, he alleged that the money was diverted for personal gains by office bearers.
In his petition, Bhandari further claimed that players were not given proper training or facilities. Instead, in the name of development, they were only provided with bananas and water.
