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The Delhi High Court on Monday listed the matter for August 1, for hearing on a plea moved by former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad seeking direction for the appointment of an administrator to take over the affairs of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) and to direct that the Electoral Roll of the DDCA be recast based on one family-one vote and thereafter hold fresh elections.
The bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain on Monday listed the matter for August 1, 2024, for consideration. However, appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Vikas Singh requested the court to transfer the matter to the Division Bench by calling it a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in nature. Earlier, the predecessor bench had sought the responses of all the respondents in the matter. Azad,, through a plea sought direction from DDCA to implement a transparent and fair membership system including a transparent waiting list of applicants to stop the ad-hoc system of giving membership. Further, the petition sought a prayer that only persons who have paid their Club Subscription Fees on time should be permitted to vote in the elections. The petitioner claimed that presently, there are no guidelines or criteria as to how membership is given nor is there a waiting list for members to know where they stand in terms of getting membership. The membership process is plagued by ad-hocism in getting fresh membership and is subjected to the whims and caprices of DDCA officials. A vested interest is created by strategically giving membership to selective people and their families, thereby creating a family monopoly, as stated in the plea. Kirti Azad claimed that the current membership process or lack thereof, is used by DDCA officials to their advantage, as they often put up their relatives in various official positions in the association. To this extent, many members have even gotten their staff enrolled as members of DDCA. Further, bogus voting is used in DDCA, wherein even the continued existence of the members is not confirmed. Resultantly, unscrupulous practices are carried out wherein candidates are elected on the basis of the present illegal and unfair system, creating a sinister hold over the affairs of the Club. The petition further stated that the result of the control by a few families of DDCA is that the selection of various teams to represent Delhi State is plagued by corruption or nepotism and the deserving candidates who are not in a position to take any advantage of the corruption or nepotism are left out of the team. The result of the corrupt practice in team selection is evident by the fact that the Delhi Team is nowhere in the Indian Cricket scene and the team gets eliminated in the early rounds of every competition of the game, including Vijay Merchant, Vinoo Mankad, Cooch Behar, C.K. Nayudu, Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare, Syed Mushtaq Ali, etc. To counter this arbitrary membership process, a new membership system providing a fair method of making members should be incorporated. Further, amongst the existing members, the voting should be restricted to one vote per family. This will ensure that DDCA posts will not be treated as permanent positions of power and will also do away with the monopoly created in the hands of a few, the plea read. (ANI)
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