'There is little chance the system can be reformed from the inside': Bishan Singh Bedi says rot inside DDCA will need time to heal

Allegations of corruption against the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) have been in the news over the last few months, but former India internationals Kirti Azad and Bishan Singh Bedi have been leading the fight for much longer.

Azad refused to back down from including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was DDCA president from 1999 to 2013, in his allegations, and was also suspended by the BJP in December. Jaitley has also filed a defamation case against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP members. The involvment of Azad and the AAP cause some to claim that the campaign against DDCA is politically motivated but those claims ignore the fact that Bedi, one of India’s greatest ever cricketers, has no political dog in the fight and has a reputation only for honesty and integrity.

In an e-mail interview with Firstpost, Bedi explains why he began his quest against the DDCA over a decade ago, why he is disappointed with Jaitley’s response and why he is confident that he and Azad and the rest of the National Capital Territory Cricket Association (NCT) will emerge victorious in the end.

Can you explain what the NCT is and what it is that you are fighting for?

NCT is a body consisting of cricketers, past and present, international and those who’ve played Ranji cricket, and cricket lovers. Our goal is to make cricket cleaner and merit-based, for youngsters to play and enjoy.

When did you first raise the allegations about corruption in the DDCA and who are the people allegedly involved?

We have been raising the issue of corruption, both financial mismanagement and selection frauds in DDCA, for well over a decade. There are people of all hues who have been running riot in DDCA for decades. Tailors, drapers, petty shopkeepers, criminal elements with past track records of crime, etc are all freeloaders who are permanent fixtures in DDCA. They misuse the system of proxies enshrined in the Companies Act, and have perpetuated themselves.

When did you first take these allegations to Arun Jaitley in his capacity as DDCA president?

We have been discussing with Jaitley, who was our president from 1999 to 2013, but he was keener to support his colleagues, who actually controlled the proxies. Between the proxies and cricket, he chose the former.

What was his response and what were you hoping for from Jaitley?

Jaitley actually had nothing to offer us or to cricket. He never seemed to be interested in sorting out the problems afflicting Delhi cricket. Each time we wrote to him (we wrote more than 200 letters), there was no response. In fact, after each letter we were met with more derision and DDCA became even more vindictive. Young, talented and meritorious cricketers whose causes we espoused were specifically kept out of teams. Selectors appointed in his regime were accused of various misdeeds yet he took no action.

Actually, Jaitley was thoroughly exposed for his lack of knowledge throughout his stint at DDCA. He believed that he could run DDCA by remote control, without having an honest and competent team. Neither his team nor the processes he employed inspired any confidence to bring in reforms, which is why he was such a big failure.

There is no mention of Jaitley’s name in the March 2013 SFIO report. Given that fact, what do you think his responsibility is in this matter?

The SFIO report was about wrongdoings in DDCA over several years upto March 2013. No specific individual was named or targeted. 60 issues relating to mismanagement and infraction of the Companies Act were highlighted. The auditor of DDCA who kept window-dressing accounts and who was retained despite our protests is facing prosecution at Tis Hazari Court, and his licence is likely to be suspended after he is found guilty of misconduct.

Only five office bearers, of their own volition went to the registrar of companies and sought pardon (compounding in legal terms) and the Company Law Board was kind enough to compound most of the applications for as much as Rs 1,000 each. Rs 400 crore has gone down the drain, compounding the loot with measly fines of a few lakhs. What a great business model!

And to keep his own involvement at bay, Jaitley also claimed that he was actually a non-executive president of DDCA and took no interest in its day-to-day running. There is no non-executive president in the Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association at DDCA. But yet, Jaitley has been trying to distance himself from the consequences of allowing DDCA to run riot during his watch. The Centre has prosecuted the auditor, the Institute of Chartered Accountants has found him guilty of professional misconduct — what else needs to be fastened onto Jaitley and DDCA? How long can he avoid responsibility for the mess in DDCA despite being told via letters, messages, meetings, AGMs?

What happened when you tried to raise these issues at the DDCA AGM?

The AGMs were a big fraud and should be a lesson in floor management. Most of the times, guys like me and Akash Lal were not even permitted by Jaitley to speak. My collegues Kirti Azad and Sameer Bahadur made points, but Jaitley invariably never gave any convincing replies. He would leave our questions to the mercy of his treasurer, who would fob us off with aggression. In fact, we never received written replies to written questions that we gave to the DDCA management. Each time, Jaitley and Batra (treasurer) would tell us that our replies had already been sent by post, which we never received.

The AGM was a big tamasha meant only to re-elect office bearers. Most of the proxies were registered in 5-6 names including that of Jaitley, and after a formality of conducting an AGM, these same people would happily go inside the voting area and re-elect the same office bearers.

DDCA officials have publically said they have the documents to prove they are innocent. What is your response to that claim?

If you have seen programmes on TV channels, you would have seen that the DDCA has no defence whatsoever. Earlier, political friendships ensured no action was taken against the wrongdoers. At any given time, DDCA is enmeshed in about 55 cases in various courts. They have been paying Rs 2 crore to lawyers every year. In fact, the time tested tactic of DDCA under Jaitley’s watch has been to embroil detractors in court cases and tire them out. Several members who raised their voice against mismanagement were slapped with court cases. Even today, several clubs are fighting it out in courts to just reclaim their own clubs. DDCA officials have conveniently propped up parallel managements in these clubs and have compelled club owners to fight in courts for survival. Even a club secretary who died was spared. His club has been sought to be taken over by crooked DDCA office bearers, and his heirs have been running from pillar to post.

In fact, according to reports, Arvind Kejriwal has filed 4,200 pages of proof in response to Jaitley’s defamation charges. The sheer weight of proof will sink DDCA. In 10 years, we have collected thousands of pages and documents to buttress the case against DDCA, and these chaps know that they have no defence. Please wait for the CBI’s inquiry, and the mask of DDCA mandarins will come off.

What is your response to people who say these allegations are politically motivated?

Nobody in Delhi who knows us believes that the complaints against DDCA are politically motivated. After all, none of us has our own kids even playing cricket. We all are well placed in life and do not need money from contracts to sustain our kitchens. Please read some reports — SFIOs, internal audits, fact finding committees of four directors, two ex-judges’ reports, reports filed by Justice Mukul Mudgal, ROC reports, etc. All the charges are well-documented with facts. The Delhi government appointed a three-member committee and even they were stunned at the brazenness and loot that they saw in DDCA.

Do you consider Kirti Azad’s suspension by the BJP to be a setback? Are you disappointed you have not got more support?

We always knew that we would have to make personal sacrifices if we tried to touch such powerful vested interests. But, we have got more support than we ever thought we would. Look at the young cricketers. The harrowing tales that they have come out with are simply heartwrenching. Corruption in DDCA spheres is horrendous. The press, media and people have all rallied behind us. Kirti Azad’s suspension is only an indication about the rot all around. I doff my hat to him for the courage that he has shown in standing with cricket and these young cricketers, even if it has cost him dearly. You do not get men of his character every day. We need to win as much for the cause that he has espoused as for him personally. He is battling not just his party in the garb of discipline, but he is also facing several defamation cases filed by DDCA and third parties instigated by DDCA officials.

In fact, our secretary Sameer Bahadur has also been facing several cases in courts filed by third parties and litigation costs have been paid by DDCA. Proxy litigation is the speciality of DDCA and they use proxies to keep complainants enmeshed in courts through expensive and time-consuming court proceedings.

What about other members at DDCA? How many support you?

Most of these guys have been made members by the current set of office bearers themselves over the last 35 years. There is no activity worth the name in DDCA, yet such people remain members and hand over their proxies to these 24 directors every year.

In the last 10 years, only 3-4 cricketers have been made members —  that too under the condition that they will give blank proxies at the time of elections to the persons who made them members. Even the bar has been closed down since they were caught serving liquor on 2 October. Except for a gym and card room, which are used by 15 persons each, there is nothing at DDCA. DDCA office bearers actually do not want a better membership profile, since it is easier to manipulate the current profile of members.

What are your views on the proxy system of voting at the DDCA?

The proxy system is the root cause of all problems at DDCA. As a Section 25 company (now Section 8), the concept of proxy voting was meant to utilised by members not staying in the city where a company is registered. But, sports bodies registered as not-for-profit companies have been able to exploit this provision. A tailor who got into DDCA in 1980 still continues his hold and has control over 1,200 proxies all by himself. Every director/patron/vice-patron also controls a number of proxies, because of which they keep coming back into power. Little wonder the BCCI is so hung up on three-term and 70-year formula apart from banning proxies in the affiliated units and in BCCI.

Is it possible to reform the system from the inside?

If a man like Arun Jaitley could not reform the system, there is little chance that the system can be reformed from the inside. We have firmly rebuffed suggestions and overtures to become directors/office bearers/selectors/officials precisely because we know how the system will gobble us if we start serenading with them. If we expect to usher in reforms, we need to cleanse the system at the roots. The proxy system has to go, lock, stock and barrel. Similarly, age restrictions and three-term limits recommended by the Lodha Commission should be implemented.

Now that the Delhi High Court has not said your petition asking for a court-ordered investigation in to the DDCA is premature, what is your next step?

The Delhi High Court has instructed the CBI to scrutinise the reports as mentioned earlier and to carry out their investigation as per the material already available in plenty. CBI said they have taken over the case only in October 2015 and that they would want some more time, since there are many persons, banks, companies, etc to question. We also accepted the court’s direction. We shall go back to the HC if we feel the CBI is acting under pressure and isn’t proceeding as per law. From available indications, CBI has swooped down upon DDCA and has already questioned many officials in matters relating to financial defalcation and for payments made to fake and dubious companies. We are expecting major revelations soon.

The HC has dismissed a restoration plea by DDCA and has cleared the decks for demolishing the unauthorised Old Clubhouse building. In fact, the Delhi High Court even showed its exasperation at the mismanagement of DDCA and we will not be surprised if they, in their wisdom, appoint an administrator to run the affairs of DDCA soon.

What assistance have you received from the Delhi government concerning the DDCA?

The Delhi government deserves kudos since it was their taking up of the case that immediately made this affair a national headline. We were fighting for 10 years, but were able to make only a limited impact. The moment the Delhi government swung into action, the entire media took note. Despite the obvious discouragement, the media has been very supportive to our cause and the support we received from the public everywhere is beyond our wildest imagination.

What is the final outcome you are hoping to achieve and do you think you can achieve it?

Firstly, we are expecting the Supreme Court to accept a large number of recommendations made by the Lodha Committee.  People who have made cricket their family affair will have to go. Once the proxy system goes, other allied rackets such as fraud/corruption in selections, age fudging, financial defalcation etc will be checked. Transparency and accountability can then be enforced.

We are very close to seeing several of these office bearers behind bars. From available reports, the CBI is hot on the heels of racketeers who have round tripped money into their own accounts. Crores that have been transferred into dubious companies is being probed by CBI and the day is not far when the entire cookie will crumble. Powerful guys who have manipulated the system will have to answer for all the mess that has happened over the years. In fact, Justice Mukul Mudgal, the former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who is supervising the current World T20 tournament has been shocked to see the rot inside DDCA which has eaten at the roots.

Please wait for some more time. We will come out with a detailed template of the loot that was going on in DDCA all these years. We will achieve finality in this crass loot soon.