Trouble brewing in DDCA; now secretary ‘stalls’ all decisions made by president

There is more trouble brewing in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) as the newly-elected President Rajat Sharma and secretary Vinod Tihara are on a certain warpath. Gloves are off now.

A day after the DDCA Cricket Director Sanjay Bhardwaj had raised voice of dissent over the functioning of Rajat Sharma, secretary Vinod Tihara has “put on hold” all the major decisions taken and implemented by the DDCA President.

In a strongly-worded notice, Tihara has advised the DDCA staff to refrain from any act to enforce or follow the decisions and implemented by Rajat Sharma “in gross violation of law”. The Rajat Sharma camp in an undated media release has tried to establish that 13 of the 15-member DDCA executive are with the president against “certain negative elements with vested interests”.

“A majority decision is not a certificate to defy the law of the land and the constitution of a body. I, being in the executive post in the DDCA, am responsible to ensure that the BCCI constitution is not flouted,” Vinod Tihara told insidesport.co.

“We have raised some valid questions. They are not addressing the core issues. I have no intention of opposing any individual or a group of people. I am performing my duty to enforce the norms laid in the (BCCI) Draft Constitution, approved by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The decisions are made in an absolute opaque manner against the spirit and norms of the Board constitution, which also amounts to the contempt of the Apex Court of the country,” says Tihara. “There is a merit in the issues raised by Sanjay (Bhardwaj) and I being a responsible servant of cricket has immediately acted upon to put the unlawful decisions on a hold.”

Tihara, while putting the appointment of the CEO, CFO, COO and the GM on hold, in a notice to the DDCA managers and staff has advised that “no contract, appointment letter, salary, etc., to be issued or released to such new appointees as the same shall amount to be a contempt of the SC directives”.

He alleges that the appointments have been made without following transparent recruitment norms. Tihara has levelled the following five charges against the Rajat  Sharma camp as he declines to accept their decisions:

(i)      No information shared with the secretary, DDCA office or the fellow Directors regarding the list of total applicants for the posts invited;

(ii)     No panel disclosed or appointed to shortlist the applicants;

(iii)    No interview Board appointment or disclosed;

(iv)    No venue for Interview disclosed;

(v)     Eligibility criteria compromised.

“In the event of any violation of the above orders, strict disciplinary action shall be initiated against the employee concerned,” states the notice, which also threatens the staff of the extreme step of  terminating for dereliction of orders.

Tihara, citing the violation of the Supreme Court-approved constitution, has also scrapped all Cricket Committees and the Selection Committees. He has further advised the DDCA employees to refrain from visiting the executive members or directors in their personal offices or homes for the DDCA work; taking orders in any manner from the personal employees of the office bearers or directors and function only from the DDCA premises. These orders were obviously in reference to the DDCA work allegedly being run from Rajat Sharma’s India TV office in Noida and his office and personal staff passing on directives to the DDCA employees on his behalf.

Insidesport.co had approached the DDCA president for his stand on the prevailing uncertainty. He only responded with a copy of the undated email in his defence. But there was no answer to the specific questions.

Meanwhile, insidesport.co has reliably learnt that the DDCA president with the majority support is contemplating to bring in a resolution to force Tihara’s exit from the DDCA Executive, which will lead this ugly spat to the court.

Meanwhile, other club members in the DDCA are also getting united against the DDCA President, whom they are accusing of putting all the “recreational activities” in the association on hold. A mass protest is being planned for some time soon,

The DDCA insiders are foreseeing fresh elections in a couple of months. Cricket in Delhi is the loser for now.

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