Kirti Azad, Bishan Singh Bedi come down hard on Arun Jaitley and DDCA

Kirti Azad, addressing a press gathering on Friday, came down hard on the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and its 'improper' functioning.

Without mentioning any particulars, the former Indian all-rounder blasted the manner in which DDCA works.

He said that the DDCA has around 1900 proxy members and 40 percent of its staff is fake. He also said that all payments were done without taking permission from the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

Azad also went on to say that DDCA has no particular rules for tenders and no register for attendance.

He, citing the example of the Dharamsala Stadium, also pointed out to major discrepancies in revamping of the Ferozeshah Shah Kotla stadium. He said that while the cost of building Dharamsala stadium was 20 cr, a whopping 100 cr were spent on the Delhi one.

Kirti Azad also found support in former cricketers - Surinder Khanna, Maninder Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Rajinder Pal and Bishan Singh Bedi.

Bedi, who has always been vocal in most controversial matters concerning Indian cricket, also pleaded the media to come out in support against the DDCA proxy system. He said that no association has a "sports secretary" except the DDCA, who has been in the sit for the last 35 years.

The former left-arm tweaker also said that "we are not hungry for posts" and that time has come for DDCA to move on.

He even blamed DDCA for Mohinder Amarnath's ouster from the selection committee. Bedi went on to say that all that happens is under the very eyes of the the Association's president Arun Jaitley. Despite terming Jaitley as a gentleman, he said that the president has not done much for cricket.

A team of officers from Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) had visited the DDCA headquarters on October 8 and began investigation into the charges of alleged financial irregularities levelled by Kirti Azad.

Azad has accused DDCA of financial irregularities, irregular purchases, injudicious spending of funds and payment of honorariums against the provisions of the Articles of Association among other things in the past few years.

He had even raised the matter in Parliament and gone to the extent of staging a dharna. This had led to the government ordering an inspection of DDCA account and other related books under Section 209 A of the Companies Act of 1956.

Earlier this year in May, the DDCA too had demanded a lifetime ban on Kirti Azad for attempting to tarnish the image of DDCA and its president Arun Jaitley and accused him of indulging in dirty politics in the "garb of criticising" the IPL.

"We demand Mr Kirti Azad's immediate suspension along with other such cricketers from BCCI and DDCA, and institution of an immediate independent inquiry to their accusations so that if found guilty, lifetime ban on them could be imposed," Vinod Tihara, Convenor Sports Committee, had said in a statement.

(With PTI inputs)