Sh. Kalyan Singh

His Excellency the Governor of Himachal Pradesh

Date:         31st  May, 2015

From:         Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association

Subject:  Himachal Pradesh Sports (Registration, Recognition and Regulation of Associations) Bill 2015

Courteously,  we  intend  to  draw  your  kind  attention  towards  the  Himachal  Pradesh  Sports (Registration, Recognition and Regulation of Associations) Bill 2015 recently introduced bythe present Government of Himachal Pradesh. Though, it is claimed that the aim of this Bill is  to  extend  support  to  the  sports  associations  and  bring  transparency  in  their functioning.

However, the intentions of the Government are evident from the fact that since the present Government has taken over in Himachal Pradesh its foremost agenda has been to dislodge the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA).  They have made numerous attempts to

grab control of the association few of them are enunciated in the succeeding paragraphs for your kind perusal and reference:

To  support  our  view,  we  regardfully  intend  to  bring  into  your  kind  notice  that  a  similar attempt  was  made  by  the  congress  government  in  the  year  2005  when  an  identical  H.PSports Act was enacted but we challenged the same in the court and the Hon’ble High Court of H.P stayed the enactment and ordered that no coercive action should be taken against the association till  the  matter  is  decided.  Virtually,  the  act  was  repealed  by  the  subsequentGovernment in the year 2009.

Now,  the  congress  government  after  coming  into  power  in  the  year  2012  is  once  again working with the same motive  i.e. to take control of an autonomous association which has rendered yeoman services to the game of Cricket and provided state of the art infrastructure in the state.  Their intentions came to the fore on the intervening night of 26-27 th  October 2013  when  they  forcibly  took  control  of  the entire  properties of HPCA  by  use  of  police force.  This  undemocratic  and  autocratic  act  of  the  Government  forced  us  to  knock  the doors of the Court.  The Hon’ble High Court vide order dated 5.11.2013 had not only directed the State to forthwith restore the status quo ante as obtained on the night of 26th  October  2013  before  taking  over  forcible  possession  of  the  subject  land  and buildings  standing  thereon  along  with  the  movables  and    also  observed  that  taking over  forcible  possession  in  this  manner  is  nothing  short  of  destruction  of  the  basic principles  of    rule  of  law  and  an  autocratic  act  of  the  State  ,  which  cannot  be countenanced.

Now,  after  facing  the  wrath  of  the  court,  the  government  is  taking  the  route  of  the legislation  to  gain  control  over  the  association.  We  respectfully  put  on  record  our  strongopposition to the government’s alleged behavior and submit that the said bill passed by the H.P Vidhan Sabha is against the autonomy of the sports associations. The bill, if enacted will severely hamper the functioning of sports associations. Furthermore, the sports associations which are working under the ambit of Olympic Charter face a threat to their existence as the Olympic  Charter  says  that  “Members  of  the  IOC  will  not  accept  from  governments, organisations,  or  other  parties,  any  mandate  or  instructions  liable  to  interfere  with the freedom of their action and vote”.

Hence, we humbly submit that you should kindly restrain the present state Government and rge it not to go ahead with any such move that will destroy the prevailing state of harmony in sports functioning and will adversely affect the autonomy and performance of the sports Association(s).

With Deep and Sincere Regards

Vishal Marwah

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association

Through its Secretary