SDMC denies occupancy certificate to DDCA, Kotla gets timeline
The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Monday passed a resolution in its standing committee denying a completion or occupancy certificate to Ferozshah Kotla until all safety requirements are complied with. It was also decided that the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) will be asked to submit a security deposit of Rs 50 lakh which it stands to forfeit if the SDMC’s concerns are not met with.
The DDCA had sought a completion certificate from the SDMC to host World T20 matches at the Kotla. Leader of the South civic body, BJP’s Ashish Sood, said this is the first time the corporation has sent a checklist to the association “since it is a matter of human security and we want to ensure that there is no injury or loss of life during an event.”
The DDCA has been given 20 days to get the stadium ready for another inspection. “We will not go by their word. A team of engineers will go and inspect the stadium again at the end of the 20-day period to ascertain that the stadium is safe for a public event,” Sood said. The SDMC also resolved that the security deposit submitted by the DDCA will be forfeited if the Kotla is not up to mark on all 60 points raised by SDMC engineers with regard to safety.
Meanwhile, in a letter sent to the SDMC on Monday, DDCA vice-president Chetan Chauhan claimed 80 percent of the shortcomings pointed out in SDMC’s January 22 letter have been fulfilled and the “remaining 20 percent will be completed in maximum two to three weeks.” Pointing out the urgency of the certificate, Chauhan wrote, “We are prepared to submit an undertaking to complete the remaining work/shortcomings pointed out in your letter.”
However, an executive engineer of the SDMC who went for an inspection at the Kotla said only 50 percent of the work has been done.
The DDCA had more trouble in store from the high court which pulled up the association for not ensuring structural safety of the Kotla. The Delhi High Court said it was “concerned about the safety” of the spectators, and indicated it could not issue directions to the SDMC to give a completion certificate till it had carried out an inspection of the stadium.
Appearing before the bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Vibhu Bakhru, SDMC counsel Gaurang Kanth said the DDCA had “completed only 40% of the work” that had to be done before a completion certificate could be issued.
DDCA counsel Sangram Pattnaik, however, disputed the statement, claiming that “over 80% of the work had been completed”. DDCA vice-president Chauhan also informed the court that there were “only minor deviations” left. The former India cricketer also pointed out that the DDCA had paid more than Rs 50 lakh to the SDMC on account of pending tax.
The bench, though, refused to accept Chauhan’s statement, observing that it “did not care how much money the DDCA had thrown” as it was “concerned about the safety of the stadium”.
The bench also observed that “there had been incidents all over the world” due to unsafe structures and it would “bring a bad name not only to the Kotla stadium but also to BCCI and the country” if there were any “incidents” due to structural problems at the stadium. The bench advised the association to “try and persuade the BCCI to wait” after Chauhan argued there was no time left for the DDCA to get the compliances prior to the schedule for the matches to be decided by the BCCI. “The World Cup is from March 15 (India vs Sri Lanka women’s T20 World Cup). We will complete the work before that. We can give an undertaking right now that it will be done,” argued Pattnaik. The court pointed out that “there cannot be a conditional final certificate” and that the final completion certificate could not be given till the work was actually done.
The bench, however, agreed to hear the matter further after being informed that the SDMC was scheduled to visit the stadium and prepare an inspection report by Monday evening. The matter will now be taken up on Tuesday, and the SDMC has been directed to “inform the court” about the outcome of the inspection. The DDCA had filed a plea before the court on Friday seeking orders to the SDMC to issue the completion certificate on the basis of an “undertaking subject to the SDMC’s satisfaction for obtaining all compliances/NOCs within three weeks so that World Cup T20 matches can be held at Ferozshah Kotla ground.”
In its plea, the DDCA had also asked the court to “appoint” Justice Mukul Mudgal to oversee the T20 match at the stadium. The court also refused to issue any such direction, noting that he had “not been appointed as a nominee of the court” to oversee everything.
