Delhi government to probe corruption allegations in DDCA

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has appointed a two-man committee to investigate allegations of widespread corruption within the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA). The committee, comprising the secretaries in the sports and urban development departments, has been given 48 hours to report back their findings.

The probe assumes significance as the BCCI at its AGM on Monday had given the DDCA time till November 17 to get all necessary clearances from the government and the Delhi civic body for it to host the fourth Test between India and South Africa. Should Delhi fail to meet the deadline, Pune will host its maiden Test, scheduled between December 3 to 7.

Most imp: requested @ArvindKejriwal to let Delhi host 4th Test match. Don't want fans in Delhi b deprived of cricketing action.

— GGF (@GautamGambhir) November 12, 2015

It is understood that on November 10 prominent former Delhi cricketers, led by former Indian captain Bishan Singh Bedi, met Kejriwal. "On Diwali eve they met the chief minister and submitted a memorandum alleging largescale corruption and financial irregularities in the DDCA," a government source, present at the meeting, told ESPNcricinfo.

Incidentally, current Delhi captain and senior India batsman, Gautam Gambhir also met Kejriwal on Thursday morning to express his frustration about leading a team without any support from the DDCA. In his interviews with the media this week, Gambhir brought out in the open his rift with the DDCA. "[If Delhi were to win the Ranji Trophy this year] that will be a massive, massive slap in the face for a lot of people who haven't done anything for cricket and yet have been on top posts in the DDCA," Gambhir told the Indian Express.

The issue of corruption and financial mismanagement has plagued the DDCA for a many years, but the inability of the factions to resolve their differences has now come to bite them back. Both the Delhi government, which is headed by Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, and the Delhi civic body have slapped numerous notices on the DDCA to clear long-standing dues and seek clearances in order to host the South Africa Test match. The BCCI, too, has for the past two years stopped the funds to DDCA because the association has not filed its accounts for the said period.

The biggest impediment for the DDCA is the massive sum of Rs 24.46 crore it owes to the Delhi government as entertainment tax. DDCA apparently believes it was exempted from entertainment tax from 2008 to 2012, but the new commission has asked them for arrears for those years plus interest. So DDCA claims they owe no more than 5 crore, but the government has asked for 24 crore.

None of the DDCA officials responded to calls, but in their interactions with the media earlier this week some senior officials had expressed confidence that Kejriwal would listen to their case and waive off a part of the entertainment tax.

The government official pointed out, however, that the probe panel was not concerned about the BCCI deadline. "Those are two different matters," the official said. "The DDCA has not paid the entertainment tax to Delhi government since a long time. So the department would be concerned only about the tax. The deadline to DDCA by the BCCI is their own internal matter".

The official said Kejriwal had two options with regards to the memorandum submitted by Bedi and co. Either the government disposes of the memorandum, but that would not be done considering it was supported by eminent names like Bedi. The second option was to conduct a swift and thorough inquiry.

(With inputs from Sidharth Monga)