The Delhi High Court on Friday ‘appointed’ former high court chief justice Mukul Mudgal to oversee all international matches, including those of the ICC World Twenty20, that would be hosted by the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) till March 31.
The DDCA will host a T20 International against Sri Lanka in February, besides 10 matches of the ICC World Twenty20 between March 15 and 30. Out of these matches, four are men’s matches and six women’s.
Mudgal’s appointment, say many people within the DDCA, shows that the corruption-ridden association in poor light as it underlined that its administrators were “not capable of organising big matches” successfully and in a transparent manner. The DDCA is mired in a spate of controversies, many of them finance related — issues that Kirti Azad has been raising for a few years.
Mudgal, a retired chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, had also successfully overseen the India-South Africa Test match, hosted by the DDCA at the Ferozeshah Kotla, this month, following a similar order from the Delhi High Court.
Lawyer Sangram Patnaik, who represented said that a bench comprising judges Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva passed the order, saying that Mudgal would oversee all the matches till March-end.
“He would oversee that all the compliances with the various departments, like the municipal corporation, Land and Development Office etc, were in place till March 31,” Patnaik told www.jantakareporter.com. “The court also fixed his remuneration and it would be Rs 100,000 per working day.”
The court, like previously, has allowed Mudgal to take help from an assistance of his choice.
Mudgal, also a keen cricket follower, said he was ready to take up the task.
“I am in Bangalore and I have not seen the order. I can comment only after seeing the order. But I am ready to take the responsibility,” Mudgal told www.jantakareporter.com.
Before and during the India-South Africa Test match held this month, Mudgal’s work was widely appreciated by all those who are seeking accountability and transparency at the corruption-ridden DDCA. He re-issued all the tenders after taking over the reins, just a few days before the match, and is believed to have fetched a handsome amount for the DDCA.
As regards, T20 match against Sri Lanka, the BCCI has still not announced the itinerary of Sri Lanka’s tour to India, though the venues have been decided. The two other venues for the three-match T20 series are Visakhapatnam and Pune.
Although according to the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (2014-2019), posted on its website, Sri Lanka was to play five One-day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals in India, the BCCI in May announced that only three T20s would be played.