Dissension in DDCA Apex Council over awarding of DPL rights

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) is split over the Delhi Premier League (DPL) after the Season 2 of the tournament was given to Perfect Pitch Sports Management Pvt. Ltd, a Delhi-based event management company that is owned by Zubin Faredoon Irani, the son of former Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Some of the members of the Apex Council are disgruntled.

It has been alleged by former India cricketer Kirti Azad that the company was given the rights without conducting a fresh tender process. Perfect Pitch, which also holds the rights to the UP T20 League, had got the rights for Season 1 of DPL last year for Rs 41 crore.

Five members of the 18-member Apex Council were not in favour. These are DDCA Vice-President Shikha Kumar, Treasurer Harish Singla, and directors Navdeep Malhotra, Anand Verma and Manjit Singh. All of them belong to the faction of veteran DDCA administrator and strongman CK Khanna. Shikha Kumar is Khanna’s daughter.

Their objections were overruled and the decision to continue with Perfect Pitch was continued as the remaining 13, including seven elected members, four government officials and two cricketers agreed to go ahead.

“It was a concern but it has been sorted,” said Manjeet.

It has been learnt from reliable sources that these members agreed against their will and are still not on board whole-heartedly.

Azad had, this month, written a letter to DDCA President Rohan Jaitley seeking clarification over the awarding of rights to Perfect Pitch.  

“While the initial contract was granted for DPL Season 1 (2024) through a tender process, the management has now extended the contract for DPL Season 2 (2025) to the same company, without conducting a fresh tender process, thereby violating standard transparency and procurement norms. The contract extension grants Perfect Pitch Sports Management Pvt. Ltd. a 6% share of the revenue for every match in the 50-match tournament, further reinforcing concerns regarding financial misappropriation,” wrote Azad in a letter addressed to DDCA President Rohan Jaitley.

“Given the gravity of this matter, I urge you to initiate a thorough audit and investigation into the financial dealings of DPL 2024 and the allocation of funds to Perfect Pitch Sports Management Pvt. Ltd. Further assess the legality of awarding the contract for DPL 2025 without a tender process and take appropriate corrective measures. DDCA’s current management shall be held accountable for any violations of transparency and governance,” Azad had written in his letter.

“As a member of DDCA, I request you to ask your CEO/Legal advisor to provide me all the documents/bills/contracts relating to DPL season 1. Please do not use the CEO and Legal Advisor for doing hatchet jobs to do illegal and administratively, incorrect jobs. As it is they are being paid prohibitively large sums of money for the ordinary jobs they are doing for DDCA. I assure you that past misdeeds and defalcation are currently being dealt with the honourable Ombudsman and sooner than later, many past administrators/officials will have to pay for siphoning off public money from DDCA coffers. The current urge to replicate that past practices will also meet a similar fate. As a lawyer, you will agree that such crass practices cannot be kept under the carpet for long,” Azad had added in his letter.

Tags : Delhi Premier League, DPL, Delhi cricket, DDCA, Rohan Jaitley, Kirti Azad, CK Khanna