Rohan Jaitley in trouble as Kirti Azad raises corruption concerns

New Delhi: Ever since Rohan Jaitley became president of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA), his name has been associated with one controversy or the other.
In early 2023, he faced serious allegations of sexual abuse by a woman named Jyotsna Sahni, who also complained to top BCCI officials, alleging that the DDCA president had sexually harassed her after promising to marry her. In fact, this incident occurred shortly after some of his objectionable photographs and videos circulated within the cricket community, featuring the same woman.
Later, a second complaint emerged, in which a Mumbai-based model reportedly made grave allegations of sexual abuse against Rohan, the son of the late former Union minister Arun Jaitley.
The BCCI’s POSH Committee (Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment) reportedly received this complaint on July 19, 2023. However, none of the above-mentioned two women approached the police of their respective cities (Delhi and Mumbai).
On the eve of the Delhi cricket body elections, Kirti Azad, a former India all-rounder and member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, has levelled serious charges of financial misconduct.
Azad claimed that DDCA, under Rohan Jaitley, mismanaged a whopping Rs 140 crores received from the BCCI last financial year. Remember, Azad and Rohan are the only two contenders for the top post in the DDCA. Azad’s accusations are particularly significant given the DDCA’s history of corruption allegations. In the past, former Indian cricketers like Bishan Singh Bedi, Madan Lal, and Surender Khanna, along with many other former and current players, have raised concerns about financial mismanagement and nepotism within the Delhi cricket association.
“The DDCA gets Rs 140 crore from BCCI every year, approximately Rs 12 crore every month, and Rs 40 lakh every day. The association has mismanaged the grants it receives. There is no proper auditing of the books of accounts. Cricket spent only Rs 7 crore. Where is the rest of the money going?” Azad asked the DDCA president to explain his position before the elections.
The DDCA election will take place from December 13 (Friday) to December 15 (Sunday), with the announcement of the results on December 16 (Monday).
Interestingly, the sitting Trinamool Congress MP from the Bardhama-Durgapur constituency, Kirti, had invited Rohan Jaitley for a debate on all such issues on Tuesday at the Constitution Club of India, but the DDCA president did not turn up at the event.
Two-time former Supreme Court Bar Association chief and former Additional Solicitor General, Vikas Singh, has also accused the Jaitely-led current Delhi cricket regime of financial misconduct. Singh sent a letter to Rohan, accusing him of attempting to “cleverly restrict competition and to push in some favoured architect firm through which major work can be easily allotted” in the “major contractual jobs in DDCA before the World Cup matches to be held in Delhi this year”.

Voting in person

Unlike his father’s uncontested regime of nearly two decades, Rohan Jaitley is currently facing a challenge.
Since the Supreme Court abolished voting by proxy in 2016 as part of reforms in Indian cricket, following the recommendations of the Justice Lodha Committee, every member of the DDCA is required to cast a personal vote to select new office-bearers and management committee members.
With former acting president C.K. Khanna (originally a tailor and draper by profession) on his side, Khanna must explain many of his past wrongdoings, including his single-handed rule over DDCA for nearly four decades. Khanna has now fielded his daughter Shikha Kumar for the post of vice-president.
Interestingly, Shikha has no involvement in cricket affairs, unlike her mother Shashi Khanna, who acted as CK Khanna’s proxy in previous DDCA polls. Now that both Khannas (husband and wife) have crossed the age of 70 fixed by the Supreme Court for fight cricket body elections, CK has been asking for a single vote for his daughter in order to continue his interference in the matters of Delhi cricket.
The Kirti Azad-led panel has a significant advantage over others. His general secretary candidate, Sanjay Bhardwaj, has also played cricket for Delhi, and so is treasurer candidate Gurpreet Sareen.
The fight for all other seats, apart from the president, where only Kirti and Rohan have a straight fight, is triangular, as the Vinod Tihara group has put up its candidates.

Family dispute

The biggest blow to Rohan Jaitley’s camp is the departure of former DDCA treasurer N.K. Batra for “personal reasons”.
Most DDCA members were surprised by this, as Batra, the former Hockey India president, was considered the most trusted person by late Arun Jaitley. Whatever the reasons, Batra has assured the Kirti group of his complete support.
Rajan Manchanda, who has been acting as general secretary since Rohan’s team unceremoniously removed Siddharth Verma, also supports Rohan. Both Manchanda and Ashok Sharma (Mama), who is currently vying for the general secretary position, face accusations of selecting players without merit.
In fact, it is being alleged that many parents of players have been asked even this time around to “manage” votes for the Rohan group if they want their children/wards to play in the coming season.
Additionally, parents are under pressure to host parties in support of this specific group.
Certainly, this is not the first time in the history of DDCA elections. The size of nearly all Delhi’s age-group teams reflects this. Azad has raised this issue on many an occasion during the campaign trail. He even questioned the logic of picking 84 probables for the latest Ranji Trophy season.
For instance, this season, 59 players have registered for the under-19 Vijay Merchant Trophy, up from 51 last season. The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament has also experienced an upward trend, with 23 players last season and 36 this season.

Old rivalry, new face

Almost every member in DDCA has witnessed former Delhi cricketers’ tirade against the late Arun Jaitley regime.
In fact, Kirti Azad had to spend almost his entire third MP term from 2014 to 2019 in suspension after he refused to compromise with late Jaitley on the issue of corruption in Delhi cricket.
The DDCA has been the subject of scrutiny for several years; members and veteran cricketers such as Kirti Azad and Bishan Singh Bedi have long alleged corruption and financial mismanagement in the association. The court-ordered special audit is one in a series of various other examinations of the DDCA’s accounts. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, conducted an examination in 2012 and completed it in 2013; an internal fact-finding mission released its report in December 2014; a Delhi government-constituted committee conducted an inquiry and submitted its report in November 2015; and a court-appointed observer, retired justice Mukul Mudgal, submitted his report in October 2015. Each of these enquiries found instances of gross mismanagement in the DDCA’s functioning and revealed scores of financial and procedural discrepancies, including those dating back at least as far as 2000, when the renovation of the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium began.
In its 2015 report, the Delhi government-constituted committee recommended that the BCCI suspend the DDCA.

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