The Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) today moved Delhi High Court seeking directions to the south municipal corporation to issue it an occupancy certificate to hold matches of upcoming T20 World Cup at Ferozshah Kotla stadium in March this year.
DDCA in an application has said it has been granted a no objection certificate (NOC) from Land and Development Officer (L&DO) for getting occupancy or completion certificate from South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and placed the NOC before the court.
DDCA has sought directions to SDMC to grant the occupancy certificate "upon applicant (DDCA) furnishing the undertaking subject to SDMC's satisfaction for obtaining all the requisite compliances/NOCs within three weeks so that World Cup T20 matches can be held at Ferozshah Kotla ground".
The court is expected to hear the matter next week.
In its application filed through advocate Sangram Patnaik, DDCA has also sought that the T20 World Cup matches be held under the supervision of Justice (Rtd) Mukul Mudgal.
It has also stated that the demand of Rs 83 lakh made by L&DO for issuing the NOC was actually payable to DDCA and not the other way round.
In its fresh plea, DDCA has said L&DO has apologised for the same and has assured return of the money (Rs 83 lakh) already lying with it and the amount (Rs 83 lakh) deposited by the association, that is a total of Rs 166 lakh.
The high court on November 18, 2015, while allowing DDCA to hold the India-South Africa test at Kotla, had directed it to obtain all clearances and NOCs from local authorities, including L&DO, by March 31 this year.
Regarding the NOC to be granted by the Delhi Urban Arts
Commission (DUAC), DDCA has said, "pursuant to recommendation of DUAC for the provision of art work, the petitioner (DDCA) has alloted the work to the artist (recommended by DUAC) in the scheduled meeting with the artist, and also made the part payment (Rs 7.84 lakh) against completion cost raised by the artist, and we have been assured that the first stage work shall be completed within 10 days.
"Pursuant to which the said appointment of the artist was approved by DUAC vide letter dated February 5."
On the objections raised by the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC), DDCA claimed it had approached the Lt Governor who "categorically averred" that NOC from UTTIPEC was not required and suggested that "it is taken care by the Delhi Police (traffic department)".
"In view of the same, the said objection (of UTTIPEC) is untenable/unrealistic/unreasonable," the application states.
DDCA has also said that work was in progress regarding the corrections in deviations in the present structure of the stadium as pointed out by SDMC, and would be completed within three weeks.
The application has been filed in the main issue which dates back to 2011 when DDCA filed a plea against a property tax assessment made by the MCD with regard to the stadium. The matter is still pending in the high court.
Thereafter, prior to holding a match at the stadium, DDCA would move an application for a provisional occupancy certificate as it did not have a completion certificate from MCD, for which an updated property tax return is also required besides NOCs from various agencies.
As per SDMC, there was no provision under the law to issue a provisional occupancy certificate.
