How Anurag Thakur selected himself as captain of Ranji team

On 23 November 2000, on a chilly winter morning at the Maulana Azad Memorial Stadium by the Tawi river in Jammu, Himachal Pradesh faced J&K in what was their fifth match of the 2000-01 Ranji Trophy season. Himachal had by then lost two matches and two others had ended in a draw.

Anurag Thakur, a Himachal player who made his Ranji debut, played a lacklustre innings, getting out for a duck after spending seven minutes at the crease, facing seven balls. But his appearance was remarkable for two reasons.

It was possibly the only time in the 80-year history of Ranji Trophy, India's pre-eminent domestic first class Cricket tournament, that a debuting player was named skipper of a state team. It was also the only instance when the chairman of a state selection committee had selected himself to the team and thought it fit to captain the side.

About two months before that remarkable appearance, Thakur had been elected the president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), which meant that he now headed the state selection committee. According to a former HPCA official who served at the time, Thakur had neither appeared in selection trials nor played in inter-district matches—prerequisites to be eligible for a state cap. He was 25 years old then and his father Prem Kumar Dhumal was the chief minister of Himachal. That one appearance gave Thakur first class ranking.

The next year, when it was Himachal's turn to nominate a national selector in a meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the state association president, Thakur, nominated himself, armed with the eligibility of having played in a Ranji side. With cricketing experience of one first class match in which he failed to score a run (but took two wickets), Thakur served as a national junior selector for the next three years. (The BCCI has subsequently raised the eligibility for selectors to 25 Ranji matches). Thakur told ET that he decided to play in that match as Himachal cricket was then in "shambles" and he wanted to "change the attitude" of the team. He said the selectors had asked him to play as he had excellent under-19 and under-16 credentials.

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Rishi Dhawan to lead as Himachal Pradesh announce squad for Ranji Trophy 2013-14

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) on Tuesday announced a 17-member squad, led by pacer Rishi Dhawan, for their Ranji Trophy Group C match against Assam starting from November 28.

Himachal Pradesh, who lost their last match to Hyderabad here, are leading their group with 16 points.

They have won two matches and drawn one besides a loss against Hyderabad last week.

The state association also selected 17 players for Under-19 Cooch Behar Elite Group match between HPCA and Maharashtra to be held from December 1 at Bilaspur.

Meanwhile, five Himachal girls were among the 15-member North Zone squad for Women's Inter Zonal one-day cricket tournament to be held from November 28 at Guwahati.

Himachal's Sushmita Negi will lead the squad.

Ranji Team:

Varun Sharma,
Sangram Singh,
Vishal Bhatia,
Manik Mohil,
Paras Dogra,
Gurvinder Singh,
Pankaj Jaswal,
Prashant Chopra,
Rishi Dhawan (C),
Vikramjeet Malik,
Bipul Sharma,
Ankush Bains,
Akshay Chauhan,
Amit Kumar,
Nikhil Gangta,
Waqar Ahmed,
Karanveer Singh.

U-19 squad: Vinay Kashyap, Mayank Dagar, Arjun Sharma, Abhishek Dadwal, Ekant Sen, Ravi Yadav, Shiva Minhas, Karan Dhiman, Rupam Sabarwal, Gaurav Kumar, Chahat Malhotra, Shivam Puri, Puneet Saini, Priyanshu Khanduri, Jashodhan, Nitin Sharma, Karan Panta.

Himachal Women in North Zone team: Sushmita Negi, Kashish Verma, Neha Chauhan, Tanuja Kanwar and Harleen Kaur.

CM trying to control Himachal cricket body: Thakur

Himachal Pradesh BJP MP and state cricket association chief Anurag Thakur Thursday dared Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to do whatever he could to stop the cricket body from holding matches in its international cricket stadium here.

"The present government is trying to take over the cricket body (Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association [HPCA]). It's my open challenge to Virbhadra Singh to do whatever he can. We won't let your dreams be fulfilled," he said while addressing party activists, who gathered here on his birthday.

The state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau in August filed a cheating and misappropriation case against the HPCA over alleged wrong-doings in allotment of land to the sports body for constructing a residential complex for the players near its stadium here, some 250 km from the state capital.

The disputed land, three km from the picturesque stadium, has been used by the HPCA to build a five-star residential complex called The Pavilion, which has 38 rooms, 32 huts and a high-tech gym.

The HPCA chief said the Congress government had tried to take control of the cricket body in its previous regime in 2003 also.

"The last time they had brought a sports bill to take over the HPCA and now they are trying it through vigilance enquiries."

The BJP MP, who has been told to appear in the Vigilance Bureau office here Oct 31, said he has replied to everything that has been asked of him.

An investigating officer told IANS that Thakur was earlier sent a questionnaire, comprising eight inquiries.

"We got the reply from him but we are not satisfied. So we summoned him," he said.

"The land allotted to the HPCA was the common village land which could not be given for any commercial activity," said a revenue official, who did not wish to be named.

The land was allotted when the BJP government, headed by Prem Kumar Dhumal, was in power in the state.

Thakur, who is Dhumal's son, alleged that the case against HPCA is politically motivated. Thakur is also a joint secretary in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Two Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers -- Deepak Sanan and R.S. Gupta -- were charge sheeted by the state government July 26 for allegedly allowing the change in the land-use for building the HPCA complex.

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association chief replies to vigilance questionnaire

The Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) president Anurag Thakur has replied to the questionnaire sent to him by State Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau in the ongoing case against HPCA. Vigilance officials are analyzing the reply, after which the issue of calling Thakur for questioning would be decided.

Vigilance bureau had sent a detailed questionnaire on September 20 giving a deadline of 15 days to file the reply and later, Thakur was given time till October 10 to file his reply. Sources said that vigilance officials had sought explanation from Thakur regarding registration of company, which later took over HPCA in 2012. He was also asked to explain why the company was registered in Kanpur on a fake address and why not the registration formalities were not completed in Jalandhar, where the regional office of registrar of companies was located, they said.

Sources said that if reply filed by HPCA president fails to satisfy the vigilance officials, then he could be called for questioning. VB has already questioned three senior HPCA officials - senior vice-president R S Kapoor, secretary Vishal Marwaha, and member Y P Singh -- in the ongoing case.

"Thakur has filed his reply on October 10 and it is being analysed. After that, further action would be decided. Investigation in the case is on and nothing more could be commented at the moment," said vigilance bureau DIG, A P Singh.

On August 1 this year, VB had registered a case against HPCA for cheating and misleading state authorities while on September 7, registrar of societies (ROS), Shimla had issued a notice to HPCA, issuing directions to Kangra district administration for superintendence control of the association.

Later, HPCA challenged the jurisdiction of ROS over HPCA, claiming itself to be a registered company under section 25 of the Companies Act, which has been incorporated after having obtained all permissions and sanctions from various government departments and authorities. HPCA has already registered its objections before registrar, who has kept the judgment on the issue reserved.

'Company claim' may land HPCA in legal trouble over leased land

Claiming itself to be a company can land Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) in trouble as the state government is questioning as to how the assets leased to the society could be transferred further to a company. The government is awaiting the final judgment of registrar of societies (ROC) in this regard before taking action against HPCA. Besides Dharamshala, HPCA has created infrastructure across the state for which government had provided land on lease.

In its preliminary objections filed before ROC, HPCA has claimed that after obtaining permission from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (Bon September 19, 2011, the HPCA had converted itself into a not-for-profit company under section 25 of the Companies Act, 1956. All requisite permissions and consents from the Central government were obtained in this regard.

"Majority of cricket associations throughout the country have been converting themselves from a not-for-profit society to a not-for-profit company, registered under the Companies Act, 1956, in order to ensure better and transparent management of their affairs," the HPCA contended in its written objections.

Sources said that the government had leased land in different parts of the state at nominal price when the HPCA was a society. As per rules, when a society is turned into a company, the land should have been returned to the government as the lease cannot be transferred further to a third party by the original allottee.

A senior government official, requesting anonymity, said that HPCA is now claiming itself to be a company while the state government had leased the land at concessional rates to the society. "The land was allotted to the society. When it was converted into a company, under which rule was the lease deed, made in the name of society, transferred to the company," he asked.

The official further said that as HPCA has challenged the jurisdiction of ROC claiming itself to be a company, further action against HPCA would be taken depending on the outcome of the case. "If ROC says that HPCA is a company, then action would be initiated for violating the provisions of land lease rules," he added.

While the State Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau had already lodged an FIR against HPCA in Dharamshala, Shimla Municipal Corporation has served a notice to HPCA for violating norms by constructing a cricket academy in green area, where, as per rules, no construction could be made. The hearing in this regard would be held on October 26.

Meanwhile, another notice is being served on HPCA over constructing a stadium in Gumma area of Shimla district. According to sources, during the previous BJP regime, HPCA was allotted land on 99-year lease and a stadium is being built on this land. The government now says that land meant for farmers could not be allotted for stadium.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Company-claim-may-land-Himachal-Pradesh-Cricket-Association-in-legal-trouble-over-leased-land/articleshow/24068486.cms

HPCA condemns Deputy Mayor for targeting the cricket body

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association today criticised Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor of Shimla Municipal Corporation, for allegedly launching a vilification campaign to malign the cricket body. 
"We ridicule the vilification campaign launched by the Deputy Mayor and CPM for cheap publicity in the garb of raising an issue which is being investigated by the courts, duly elected state government, various investigating agencies and registrar of Societies," Mohit Sood, Press secretary of HPCA said in a statement here. 
Questioning the Deputy Mayor about the development of Shimla Municipal Corporation after he assumed the office last year, Sood said his only agenda is to make "false and baseless allegations and undermine the good work done by HPCA for promotion of sports". 
He accused Panwar and his party, CPI (M), of misleading people by making such allegations at the cricket body, to hide their failures. 
Sood further said, "We would also like to ask the Deputy Mayor that in what manner, the CPM has contributed to the growth and development of sports in Himachal Pradesh." 
He said that "on the contrary the HPCA has been able to create good infrastructure and produce promising young players in such a short time and the international cricket stadium at Dharamsala has been praised for its beauty and quality and voted as one of the best stadiums in the world".

We are no longer a society: HPCA

Shimla, Sep 30 (IANS) Battling a host of charges from the state government, the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Monday said "it is no longer a society and does not come under the purview of the state registrar of cooperative societies".

Via: http://in.news.yahoo.com/no-longer-society-hpca-141804895.html

Thakur for setting up zonal cricket academies

Shimla, Sep 29 (IANS) Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) joint secretary Anurag Thakur Sunday said cricket academies at zonal level would be set up to sharpen skills at the junior level.

Via: http://in.news.yahoo.com/thakur-setting-zonal-cricket-academies-151005491.html

HPCA used education dept land without permission: Vigilance bureau

The probe being conducted into the allotment of land to Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) has now revealed that around 700 square meters of land belonging to the education department was included in the stadium without any prior permission and structures on this piece of land were razed without any approval. After coming to know about this fact, now the State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau officials are going to question education department officials.

ADGP (vigilance bureau) Prithviraj Singh said that during investigation illegal encroachment on 700 square meters of land was found on the part of HPCA. "This land belonged to education department but now is part of the stadium," he said. The ADGP said that an inquiry had further revealed that existing structures on this land were demolished without any permission.

Now the vigilance bureau has decided to seek an explanation from the education department whether any permission was obtained by HPCA for transfer of the land, and if not then why the education department did not lodge a complaint. According to vigilance sources, residential quarters were to be made for college staff on the said land.

HPCA is already facing a probe for turning the association into a company on a "fake address" given while registering the company in Kanpur and also for alleged changes in land lease agreement. In a bid to stop HPCA president Anurag Thakur from participating in the voting for Belection being held on September 29, Registrar Cooperative Societies has sent a letter to BCCI president on Wednesday informing him that for election HPCA is not a valid body owing to ongoing dispute, sources said.

On August 1 this year, the vigilance bureau had registered a case against HPCA for cheating and misleading state authorities while on September 7, the Registrar of Societies, Shimla, had issued directions to the Kangra district administration for superintendence control of the association.

While hearing a petition filed by HPCA, a division bench of Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice Kuldip Singh recently directed the petitioners to appear before the Registrar of Societies on September 30, 2013 at 11:30 am and to submit their objections, preliminary objections, which shall be decided by the Registrar of Societies.

Trouble for Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association

There was more trouble for the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA), headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, as the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau found the sports body's initially registered address in Kanpur as "bogus". During a recent investigation, state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau found that the Kanpur address was bogus. A team led by assistant superintendent of police Jograj Jariyal visited the Kanpur address. "A vigilance team had visited Kanpur and found that the office associated with the HPCA is fictitious and non-existent," an investigator told IANS, on the condition of anonymity, here Tuesday.