Qaiser Mohammad Ali
Mukul Mudgal, a former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, on Wednesday said that he was ready to oversee the conduct of an India-South Africa Test in Delhi after the Delhi High Court bestowed the responsibility on him.
“Can I refuse a High Court order? It is an honour to be noticed by the High Court and, of course, I will do the job,” Mudgal told www.jantakareporter.com on Wednesday. “I think it is my duty to obey the order. That’s about all.”
While pronouncing the order in a DDCA versus Municipal Corporation of Delhi case, the double bench of Judges Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said that if Mudgal wanted an assistant he should be provided one.
Mudgal is a keen cricket fan and follower. Perhaps aware of his love for the game, Badar Durrez Ahmed, while assigning him the task, in a lighter vein said that Mudgal would “oversee and see” the match.
Mudgal hardly misses an international match played at the Ferozeshah Kotla. But this assignment is different from watching the match over a cup of coffee and investigating IPL betting-fixing scandal. He agreed, “Of course, of course.”
Has Mudgal ever performed this kind of role before? “Certainly not — I have never done this thing. It is certainly a first-of-its-kind responsibility for me,” he said.
On being asked how he proposed to go about doing the job, Mudgal said, “I cannot say anything more till I receive the order. Let me receive the order.”
As part of his latest assignment, Mudgal will have to interact with DDCA officials, some of whom are facing probe for alleged financial embezzlement and other irregularities. Due to this and other maladministration as well as long-standing dues towards government agencies – particularly entertainment tax dues of Rs 24.46 crore — the BCCI had put Pune on standby to host this Test, which starts on 3 December.
Mudgal would, however, not give his opinion on either the DDCA or its administrators. “I will not comment on the merits of the dispute [between the DDCA and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi],” he said.
The DDCA and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi are locked in a battle over completion of the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium for some years.
