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 Virtually, the act was repealed by the subsequentGovernment in the year 2009.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
(5)