NEW DELHI: Once a cesspool always a cesspool? Rajat Sharma, owner of the pro government news channel India TV, who won presidentship of the scandal and corruption-tainted Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) with an overwhelming margin in July last year, is facing a full blown revolt.
Ten of the 16 members of the executive committee of the DDCA have passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of powers bestowed on Sharma for the day-to-day running of the state body. Additionally, the EC has also demanded the termination of the contract of chief operating officer (COO) GR Saxena.
“Resolved that the power to the president which was accorded to him on 2/07/2018 by the board of directors for day-to-day running of the affairs is hereby withdrawn and all the decisions will be taken by the Apex Council. We further resolve that we have passed this resolution by circulation considering the urgency of the matter and that it may be placed in the next meeting of the Apex Council for taking note of,” the resolution stated.
“Resolved that the services of COO GR Saxena be terminated with immediate effect from today and his dues may be settled as per contract. Henceforth, the work of COO will be looked after by CFO PC Vaish. He shall not be entitled to receive any extra remuneration for this,” the resolution added.
“The DDCA president Rajat Sharma has been acting in an arbitrary manner and in an undemocratic way. All decisions have been taken by one man without consulting the rest of the executive committee or informing the directors. It is not beneficial for a state cricket unit to be run by one person who has all the power. There has to be accountability,” Tihara told Indian Express.
The resolution by circulation will now have to be tabled at an executive committee meeting for it to be ratified. “We will hold an executive committee meeting soon,” DDCA director (cricket) Sanjay Bhardwaj said.
Both Tihara and Bhardwaj have been at loggerheads with the DDCA president in the past over various issues.
It bears noting that in August last year, the DDCA had appointed Ravi Kant Chopra as CEO, PC Vaish as CFO and Saxena as COO, all part of Sharma’s efforts to bring profeessionalism into the workings of the DDCA.
So is Sharma to be faulted in this matter? Not if one goes by the reportage from Indian Express and Sportstar. The “villains” in the latest sordid saga to hit the DDCA are clearly the “gang of ten” and NOT Sharma.
A DDCA official told Indian Express that Sharma and the directors had fallen out during the ongoing IPL. “Differences have cropped up on issues such as some directors wanting to harass the IPL franchisee just before the IPL match in order to extract more tickets, which DDCA president Rajat Sharma did not allow. These members are insisting on renegotiating the contract with the IPL franchisee when just two matches are left. Sharma had also learnt that some board members had tried to sell in black the IPL tickets at their disposal, which did not go down well with him and it led to a showdown,” the official said.
A member of the Sharma group told Sportstar that managing the affairs at the DDCA had become “untenable” with the current crop of officials. They all have “vested interests and don’t have any love for the game.”
The EC is insisting on having its own choice of cricket advisory committee (CAC) to pick the selectors and coaches without any interviews, in direct contrast to the process adopted by Sharma and his predecessor Justice (Retd) Vikramajit Sen. “This will hurt the entire process of transparency and credibility in cricket matters,” a veteran DDCA official told the magazine.
Interestingly, the members who have come together have in the past lodged legal complaints against each other. “They want to withdraw the cases because all their efforts to run the DDCA on their whims and fancy have been choked by the current president. They are trying to hold the DDCA president to ransom. That is not going to happen with Sharma who has introduced a fair method of administration. The DDCA made a profit of Rs 5 crore (Rs 50million) from the India-Australia ODI match. Some people are eyeing that amount,” the official said.
It is understood that the recent differences have cropped up because some directors wanted to harass the IPL franchisee just before the match in order to “extract more tickets.”
Sharma did not encourage such a move. The disgruntled members then insisted on “renegotiating” the contract with the IPL franchisee with just two matches to go this season.
What will decisively tip the scales in Sharma’s favour, however, is the fact that he has the full support of the three government observers.
And it doesn’t take a clairvoyant to presume that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Committee of Administrators (CoA) will step in to ensure that power should not go into the “wrong” hands (read that as the gang of ten).
