Former Punjab cricketer Bhupinder Singh Sr along with other cricketers during a press conference at Chandigarh Golf Club on Thursday. (Express photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Ten months after the Punjab Cricket Association conducted its election, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has put the Punjab Cricket Association and Punjab government on notice on a petition filed by 12 former cricketers seeking directions on the implementation of Lodha Commitee report recommendations.
The 12 petitioners, who are also members of the Pun Cricket Players Association (PCPA), had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court through the petition filed by their lawyer Hemant Bassi on Wednesday seeking directions for the appointment of a committee of administrators for PCA, preferably headed by a retired judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court apart from urging the court to direct the panel to forthwith take over the charge of PCA’s affairs superseding its managing committee before implementing the Lodha Committee reforms.
Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Jitendra Chauhan took up the petition on Wednesday filed against state of Punjab and 57 other respondents by former Ranji player and secretary of PCPA Rakesh Handa and 11 other players and has fixed October 10 as the date of next hearing.
“The 12 former cricketers, including Rakesh Handa, Sapan Chopra, Vipan Kumar, Rakesh Saini, Lalit Kumar, Inderjit Singh, Navjot Singh, Janak Raj, Manu Kumar, Gagandeep Singh, Arun Kumar and Satwant Singh filed the petition seeking directions for implementation of Lodha Commitee report as dated December 15, 2015 and passed through Supreme Court order on July 16, 2018. We have named 58 respondents, including former PCA secretary MP Pandove and IS Bindra, former PCA president apart from PCA. PCA conducted their elections last year and chose Rajender Gupta as president. Gupta has been the president of Barnala Cricket Association since 2005 and cannot be made president under the recommendations. PCA also elected eight office-bearers while only five office-bearers are allowed,” said lawyer Hemant Bassi.
While the Pun Cricket Welfare Association was formed last year after another player association was formed under the aegis of PCA, the former players contended through their counsel about the district cricket associations comprising office-bearers with more than nine years in office apart from being above 70 years of age. The petition also argued that PCA appointed its CEO without any advertisement apart from appointing five junior and senior selectors instead of three as recommended by Lodha Committee.
“The High Court was apprised that the District Cricket Association does not hold its elections and some of the office-bearers have been in the same post for more than nine years. Office-bearers like O D Sharma of Bhathinda Cricket Association, Krishan Lal Sraf of Kapurthala Cricket Association, AGS Bawa of Faridkot Cricket Association and others have been office-bearers for more than nine years. Apart from this, no player association has been formed vide elections by PCA. PCA has also not divorced the membership of its Punjab Cricket Club from PCA membership as required by the Lodha Committee,” added Bassi.
Former international cricketer and Punjab selector Bhupinder Singh Sr, who is the president of PCPA, said, “How can 82-year-old Mohinder Singh be the office-bearer of Chandigarh Cricket Association affiliated to PCA? As former players, we have our concerns about the functioning of PCA and the implementation of Lodha Committee recommendations. Apart from this, PCA is building another stadium in the same district Mohali in Mullanpur. The Nagpur stadium was constructed with a cost of Rs 65 crore and rather than spending money on developing stadiums in other districts, PCA is spending more than Rs 120 crore on the new stadium.”