DDCA stops Rs 50 lakh payment to nine lawyers, calls it “unauthorised”

By Qaiser Mohammad Ali New Delhi, Oct 3 : The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) has stopped payment of Rs.50.19 lakh to nine lawyers, including Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Nalin Kohli, after a complaint was lodged with its General Administration Committee (GAC) headed by former Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh.
This decision is part of a three-page office-order issued and signed by Maninder Singh and the two other members of the GAC, Sunil Yadav and Rajni Abbi. All three are Central government nominees, and were appointed as Directors on the DDCA ‘managing committee’, also called Apex Council, on September 1.
“The legal retainer of the DDCA has secured the advice of the Ld Additional Solicitor General of India. It has been opined that no unauthorised payment should be made by the DDCA and which is not inconformity with the resolution passed by the Apex Council of DDCA on 13-09-2020. It has been advised that since no authorisation was given by the committee after 13-09-2020, the fee bills in relation to any claimed appearance etc. on or after 13-09-2020 being not authorised, should not be paid by DDCA,” said the office order.
“This committee is shocked to note that the staff who were present in the Apex Council meeting dated 13-09-2020 prepared and issued cheques/cheque-books in complete violation of the resolution passed by the Apex Council of the DDCA. It has become incumbent that the cheques issued must be stopped for payment forthwith and suitable measures be adopted to ensure that there is no further non-compliance of the decisions taken,” read the order.
The office order mentioned the following nine persons and amounts that have been stopped: Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi — Rs.11.25 lakh Mr Sundimatram/Surinder Mehndiratta — Rs.3.60 lakh Mr Vincent Ville — Rs.3.60 lakh Mr Khowaja Kamal Hasan — Rs.1.57 lakh Mr Dayan Krishnan — Rs.3.96 lakh Mr Nalin Kohli — Rs.5.94 lakh Mr KV Vishwanathan — Rs.4.95 lakh Mr Shyam Divan — Rs.4.95 lakh Mr Gautam Dutta (DD Associates) — Rs.10.37 lakh