Eight board of directors of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) have signed a joint resolution for withdrawal of all powers vested with president Rajat Sharma, a move that could have far-reaching implications.
The DDCA's decision making body is Board of Directors (BoD) and with eight out of the 16 signing the resolution (in possession of PTI), the renowned journalist may have problems in functioning smoothly.
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The ones who have signed the resolution during a meeting held last Sunday are Vinod Tihara, Rajan Manchanda, Sanjay Bhardwaj, Alok Mittal, Apurv Gupta, S.N. Sharma, Sudhir Agarwal and Nitin Gupta.
Tihara, who was made the secretary, and former cricketer Bhardwaj had protested at the start of Sharma's tenure saying they didn't like his ways of functioning.
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Tihara, in fact, was suspended and he took legal recourse to get a favourable verdict.
However government nominee and most notable member in the BoD Gautam Gambhir didn't sign the resolution along with six others (barring Sharma).
The resolution statement read: "Resolved that powers to the president that was accorded to him on 02/07/2018 by the Board of Directors for day to day running of affairs is withdrawn and all the decisions will be taken by the apex council. We further resolve that we passed this resolution by circulation considering the urgency of the matter and may be placed at the next apex council for taking note of."
"For complete withdrawal of Sharma's powers, there has to be a majority and the aggrieved directors are yet to procure the majority. It is still 8 out of 16. Even if they get one more signature, the president can move court and procure a stay order," a senior DDCA member said.
"In all, it will lead to another impasse in DDCA as Supreme Court as per earlier order will not appoint any more administrator. The matter will now be placed before the BCCI's Committee of Administrators. We are in the process of sending the decision of the Board of Directors," he said.
However with BCCI's new constitution vesting all powers in Apex Council, it couldn't be ascertained whether the resolution passed by DDCA's BoD has legal sanctity or not.
The Board also passed a resolution for removal of Chief Operations Officer (COO) G.R. Saxena.
In case of Saxena, 10 board members signed the resolution. Apart from the eight who signed the resolution to withdraw powers vested with the president, the other one also had signatures of Renu Khanna and Rakesh Bansal (younger brother of controversial former president Sneh Bansal).
The BoD wants Chief Financial Officer (CFO) P.C. Vaish to take additional charge as the COO without any extra remuneration.
DDCA president Sharma promised to get back as he was busy with professional commitment.
However a Sharma confidant claimed that some of the Board members are trying to arm twist the president for their "vested interest".
"A few of the directors close to Tihara wanted more passes and were in a mood to harass Delhi Capitals management which the president did not allow. These members are trying to renegotiate the franchisee fee contract when only two home games are left," a DDCA official belonging to Sharma camp said.
It is learnt that the president is speaking to some of the Board of Directors and asking them to withdraw their signature from resolution.
"We are hopeful that save Tihara, who has an agenda against the president along with Sanjay Bhardwaj, other members can be convinced so that they withdraw," he added.