Tiff between DDCA and SDMC widens

The stand-off between the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) and the South MCD over the completion certificate of Feroz Shah Kotla ground have been further widened as the latter has been thinking of conducting a detailed enquiry of the entire sequence. 

The Corporation has said that it will go through the reasons of granting ‘provisional occupancy clearance’ to the authority earlier as the DMC Act does not allow civic agencies to issue such clearance. The agency, however, maintained that last time it had issued a certificate after the high court’s order. 

Notably, there is a Test match scheduled between India and South Africa in first week of December and the recent move of SDMC might lead to an uncomfortable situation ahead of the match.

“We have decided to probe how the DDCA got clearance on previous occasions as there is no such provision in the Delhi Municipal Act. 

“If any discrepancy has occurred in past, the Corporation will find it and try to rectify it. We will also check allegations that the DDCA has constructed illegal structures at the ground. If found true, they will all be demolished accordingly. For now, we have sought details of the sequences and things will be clear in next meeting after the officials submit the documents related to this. Last time we had denied clearance but the authority took it after the court’s intervention,” said Radhey Shyam Sharma, Chairman of Standing Committee, SDMC.

The opposition leaders, however, said that the SDMC gave clearance certificates on several occasions while it is not authorised to give it. If the court had asked to provide partial clearance, then Corporation could have appealed to a larger Bench and could have gone to the Supreme Court but no such move was made. 

“It’s really shocking that the agency went beyond its jurisdiction. Its inaction can be judged from the fact that despite constructing illegal structures at the ground, no action has been taken,” said Farhad Suri, Leader of Opposition, SDMC.

Notably, the DDCA had earlier approached the high court filing for a provisional occupancy clearance from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). The move to the court was necessitated after the MCD denied the clearance. 

As a counter, the SDMC had told the court that despite various reminders since 2008, the DDCA had failed to obtain a completion certificate. It was also told to the court that the DDCA had sought the court’s intervention for the past six years.