The Delhi High Court on Monday called for the documents pertaining to the grant of a cricket coaching contract at NDMC’s Talkatora cricket ground, over allegations of favouritism in granting the bid to a firm, promoted by an Indian cricketer, and overlooking the bid of a Dronacharya awardee.
A Bench headed by Justice B. D. Ahmed asked the NDMC to produce before it the relevant documents pertaining to the bids that had come in for cricket coaching.
‘No coaching experience’
The Bench was hearing the petition of Dronacharya awardee cricket coach Gurcharan Singh, who had alleged that his
“Dronacharya Cricket Foundation was rejected by the NDMC, which accepted the bid of IGMA Sports Management, which is promoted by a cricketer who has no experience in coaching”.
On April 22 last year, the NDMC had invited applications for coaching in NDMC/Navyug schools in various sports.
‘Bid reopened’
The last date for submission of proposals was May 5. Mr. Singh’s foundation had submitted its proposal on May 3. It later came to the petitioner’s knowledge that the tender was opened surreptitiously on May 20.
Mr. Singh has trained international cricketers like Kapil Dev, Kirti Azad, Murali Karthik, etc., and has 40 years of experience in coaching.
The petition alleges that the NDMC resorted to unfair means while selecting the applicant for the coaching academy. “Mr. Singh was the best person to be selected as no other applicant has the kind of experience he has,” his counsel said.
NDMC refutes allegations
IGMA Sports Management has said that the cricketer was only the face of the company and not its founder.
The NDMC has denied Mr. Singh’s allegations and stated that there was no favouritism and a proper committee was constituted, which evaluated the bid while considering the fee structure, coach-student ratio and the qualification of the bidder.
