A thorough scrutiny of the last three year’s accounts is the key to the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) redeeming its lost reputation as Justice (Retd.) Vikramajit Sen prepares to assume his responsibility as the High Court-appointed Administrator.

The court has ordered the auditing of the accounts from 2013 to 2015 by an external agency. The preferred agency to do it, observed a DDCA official, would be Deloitte, which has undertaken the exercise in some of the Board’s affiliated units.

The DDCA has not submitted its balance sheet for three years and is under pressure to come clean on this front.

According to a veteran official, the challenge for the administrator would be to amend the constitution and usher in transparency in the running of the DDCA. “There is an urgent need to reconstitute the Sports Working Committee (SWC) which has been responsible for a large part of the mess at the Ferozeshah Kotla,” insisted the official. The SWC consists of 10 members elected by the 111 clubs of the DDCA, which has a staff of over 100 employees.

“There is not a single sportsperson in the SWC. It should have three cricketers from men, women and para sections, two nominated representatives from the Institutional Clubs, two from the affiliated clubs (picked by the Players’ Association).

“The SWC should submit its recommendations (to pick coaches and selectors) to the Chief Executive Officer and the Executive Committee to make the final list. This will ensure transparency and credibility to the whole process.”

The immediate task for the Administrator would be to get the rooms occupied by the disqualified officials vacated and scrutinise the electoral roll.

“Payments overdue to coaches and selectors too have to be fast tracked. Only two international cricketers have managed to get their payments sanctioned through the BCCI, but there are many who have been waiting for their dues to be cleared,” said the official.

The DDCA was run by Justice (Retd.) Mukul Mudgal in a most efficient manner from November 2015 to January 2017, during which it conducted the India-South Africa Test, World T20, IPL and the India-Zealand ODI.

During his tenure, which ensured fair selection by a panel picked through interviews, Delhi won the senior women’s T20 championship and the North Zone T20 championship apart from finishing runner-up in the Cooch Behar (under-19) tournament.

Justice Mudgal, who donated all payments made to him to the Delhi Police Martyr’s Fund, had relinquished the post due to his engagement with FIFA (International Football Federation).

Courtesy: The Hindu