DNA has learnt the Karnataka government offered this piece of land in the place of old one for which court cases were pending in the month of November 2016.
Friday dealt another body blow to sacked Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) former president Anurag Thakur when Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (COA) finally approved the land deal for Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy (NCA).
The NCA deal was in limbo since 2008 first for various court cases in Karnataka and then Thakur, after he took over as president, as he wanted the academy to be set up in Dharamshala in his home state of Himachal Pradesh. This despite the fact that BCCI had approximately paid the entire sum Rs 50 crore to the Karnataka government for 25 acre land near the international airport.
Vinod Rai-led CAO finally put all speculations to rest and instructed the BCCI to pay the remaining amount to the government to take possession of the ground during the meeting held in the Capital on Friday. DNA has learnt the Karnataka government offered this piece of land in the place of old one for which court cases were pending in the month of November 2016.
However, Thakur had other ideas. He wanted BCCI to get refund of entire amount from Karnataka and then buy a land in Dharamshala. Since Justice Lodha panel took all the powers away from BCCI bosses, Thakur failed to take this any further.
Audit trouble
Then it was turn of representatives of Deloitte, the one which exposed the wrongdoing of several BCCI’s state units, to apprise the COA of the status report and how much time they still need to complete audit of entire state associations. Deloitte is likely to present its interim report during the next meeting in Mumbai on Feb 25.
COA has also held discussion with BCCI’s legal firm, Amarchand Mangaldas, regarding the legal cases which are going on at present.
“There are many cases which were only initiated to satisfy the egos of few former top bosses. BCCI is paying huge legal fee for that along with few cases that could well be settled out of court. Also it was important to understand whether continuing with few cases are in the interest of the Board or not,” said an insider.
In between, Justice Lodha panel secretary Gopal Sankaranarayanan was also called in to assess “to which extent the states or BCCI have implemented the Lodha reforms till date”.
Sabotage in Hyderabad
It was also brought to the notice of COA how former officials of Hyderabad Cricket Association created hurdles during the conduct of one-off Test against Bangladesh recently.
DNA has learnt that a virtual “guerilla tactics” were unleashed at BCCI officials conducting Test during those five days as several of former HCA sympathisers cut electricity and wires to embarrass the BCCI.
Another interesting aspect which has now caught the attention of COA is that how nearly 2,000 people were entertained by local association during an Under-19 match recently played in Hyderabad.
“In an Under-19 match where hardly you will find any spectators, the official headcount of officials and players to which the lunch was served was shown as 2,000. And believe it or not, Rs 1,000 was shown as cost of each plate per day as this was a marriage party,” informed the source.
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 "Anurag Thakur")
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