Elections announced-Ludhiana District Cricket Association to be held after 17 years
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in/ Chandigarh
While IPL glorifies the game and gives the cricketers a status of a demi-god in our country, players at the state and district are struggling for basic representation at the grass root level. They are denied to be a part of the decision-making body at the district levels and have to fight in courts to get basic rights.
In a recent judgement passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, elections of Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) will be conducted on October 11, 2020, after a gap of 17 years under the supervision of Justice Virender Jain former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, who has been appointed as observer for smooth and impartial conduct of elections.
Former Punjab Ranji captain Inderjit Singh Malhi along with other state and national cricketers had filed a petition in the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in 2018 for holding elections in the LDCA.
The players wanted the elections of the LDCA to be conducted as per the stipulations laid down by Justice Lodha Committee recommendations as approved by the Supreme Court, to which they had faced strong objections from the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), which said that the recommendations are not binding on the District Cricket Associations and wanted to avoid transparency at all costs.
PCA had submitted that Retired Election Commissioner of Punjab/Haryana should be more befitting than Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, as the Observer of election. It is interesting to note that Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, is ex-officio Chairman of LDCA and is a non-voting member. There would have been no cost to LDCA, but PCA preferred to pay for observer and objected to Deputy Commissioner.
After detailed arguments from both sides, Hon’ble High Court appointed Former Chief Justice as the Observer and also ordered that objections by any party during the elections shall be decided by the Observer.
Elections announced-Ludhiana District Cricket Association to be held after 17 years.It may also be noted that elections in other 20 District Cricket Associations, including Jalandhar and Amritsar, have not been conducted for decades. Buoyed by the landmark judgement of the High Court, cricketers in other districts are also planning to approach the High Court.
September,20,2020
