HC denies permission to a DDCA member to contest its polls

The Delhi High Court has denied permission to a DDCA member to contest in the elections to the cricketing body, saying he was associated with the organisation affairs till July 2016 and cannot claim that the three-year cooling off period will not apply to him.

According to the amended Articles of Association (AoA) of DDCA, none of its members can be at the helm of affairs for consecutive terms and there has to be a cooling off period of three years between each tenure.

A vacation bench of Justices Vinod Goel and Rekha Palli said that petitioner Dinesh Saini, on expiry of his two year stint as Joint Secretary of Company Affairs in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), continued to be part of various committees of the organisation and attended the meetings till July 2016.

The court said that after being associated with DDCA's affairs till July 2016, Saini now "cannot be allowed to take benefit of his own conduct and contend that since he had not been specifically elected as an office bearer, he is not bound by the clause requiring three-years cooling off period".

"For the aforesaid reasons, we do not think that the petitioner has been able to make out a prima facie case for grant of an ad interim direction at this stage to permit him to participate in the election," the bench said in its order which was made available today.

Saini's lawyer, Tanuj Khurana, had argued before the court yesterday that his client had attended various committee meetings only to assist the high court-appointed administrator, former Supreme Court judge Vikramajit Sen, as no Annual General Body Meetings had been held in DDCA after 2013 to elect new office bearers.

However, the high court in its order has noted that Saini had "voluntarily and actively participated" in the affairs of DDCA till July 2016.

DDCA's administrator, represented by advocate Pradeep Chhindra, opposed the maintainability of the plea saying polls in a private organisation cannot be challenged in a writ petition.

He had also argued that Saini was deriving benefits of his post even after expiry of his tenure and hence, a cooling off period has to apply to him and he cannot be a candidate in the DDCA elections which is scheduled to culminate on June 30.

Voting began yesterday in the election in which former India Test player and Delhi legend Madan Lal Sharma, noted journalist Rajat Sharma and senior advocate Vikas Singh are vying for the post of President.

Pushpendra Chauhan, the younger brother of former India Test opener Chetan Chauhan, is contesting for the post of joint secretary, while Rajan Manchanda, younger brother of former treasurer Ravinder Manchanda, is also a contender for the same post.

The DDCA administrator was appointed during the hearing of a 2010 petition of the cricketing body seeking occupancy certificate from South Delhi Municipal Corporation to hold matches at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.