Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla on verge of losing hosting rights for World T20 matches
Just days after the BCCI shifted the 2nd T20I to be held between India and Sri Lanka on February 12 from Delhi to Ranchi, the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) could be in for further embarrassment as it could lose the hosting rights for the four matches slated to be held at the Feroz Shah Kotla during the ICC 2016 World T20, including a semi-final scheduled for March 30th, Livemint reports.
The DDCA had failed to get the provisional occupancy certificate within the deadline specified by the national board for the India-Sri Lanka match, prompting the match to be shifted, and according to BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, the same fate awaits the state association unless all the necessary documents and NOCs are in place by Sunday evening.
“As far as the World Cup is concerned, the World Cup management committee has met today and has also discussed the issue of DDCA,” Thakur said on Saturday.
“They have given a deadline of 31 January, five o’ clock, to come out with the required NOCs (no-objection certificates) so that they can continue as a host of the World Cup matches. If they are unable to do so by 31st evening, then the BCCI will shift those matches to the seven other remaining venues.”
DDCA set to seek Justice Mudgal’s help
According to a report in Business Standard, the DDCA are contemplating approaching Justice Mudgal to help them sort out the issues relating to obtaining the necessary clearances required to obtain the NOCs.
"There is a possibility that a few top officials, whom Justice Mudgal has worked with during the SA Test, will meet him and apprise of the current situation and seek his guidance. Justice Mudgal had advised to get all compliance certificates and we are in the process of getting it," a senior DDCA official told PTI today.
“We must admit that BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur has every reason to be angry as he had expressed confidence in DDCA a few days back. After that, he was left embarrassed. Our working president Chetan Chauhan will be mailing our response tomorrow. We don't even need 15 days. The amount of work left along with NOCs can be procured in 7 days," the official added.
He said that the DDCA had paid the lease amount of 83 lakh to the Land & Development Office (L&DO) and were expecting to get the clearance certificate by Monday along with NoCs from the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) and UTTIPEC (Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure {Planning & Engineering} Centre).
When reminded that DDCA were yet to obtain NOC from the Fire and Electrical departments of the Delhi State government, the official said: "Certain corrective measures were pointed out last time and all the work has been done as per compliance. Even after that, they do not give us NOCs, we would have to move court but then we would have all other certificates in order."