Kirti Azad to petition high court in DDCA row

New Delhi, 28 January। Former India cricketer Kirti Azad on Thursday demanded the appointment of an independent administrator to look into alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and said he was set to petition the Delhi High Court in this regard.

The suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP) said the petition will also be impleading the central and state governments, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) besides all current and former DDCA officials, including former president and current finance minister Arun Jaitley.

"Once Justice Mukul Mudgal's second report (on financial irregularities) on DDCA is submitted, we will attach it with our writ petition, demanding the appointment of an administrator. We would also demand a time-bound Special Investigative Team (SIT) probe on mismanagement that has been going on in DDCA," Azad told reporters at his residence here.

"We will file a petition against the Centre as the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Urban Development is part of it. Concerning the state government, my complaint is against the Entertainment Tax Department for not raising questions (about irregularities). I also hope CBI starts an inquiry and not be a 'caged parrot' as the Supreme Court has termed it."

Azad thanked and praised Justice Mudgal for the successful conduct last year of the India-South Africa Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi.

"For the first time since 1982, DDCA made profit from a Test match. The last time DDCA made profit was in 1982 in the Test match against England," the 57-year-old said.

"That is also because BCCI organised the match with state association officials being behind bars after a CBI enquiry. They (DDCA) are so shameless that they even tried to hoodwink Justice Mudgal by submitting fake bills," said the former all-rounder.

The 1983 World Cup-winner released a letter he wrote to Jaitley, dated September 13, 2015, where he alleged that the senior BJP leader played a "nefarious role" in DDCA affairs.

BJP has suspended Azad for his attack on Jaitley and served him a show cause notice, asking why he should not be expelled. Azad claimed that BJP will revoke his suspension as he had not targeted the party or the government but only corruption.

Azad was accompanied by former international cricketers Maninder Singh and Surinder Khanna and Dronacharya awardee cricket coach Gurcharan Singh.

Agency