2 violations behind takeover: Cabinet
HPCA: No one dissented against CMs proposal to cancel lease.
In a pre-dawn action,the Virbhadra Singh government on Sunday took over Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association’s (HPCA) cricket stadium and its luxury five-star resort,The Pavilion — both at Dharamsala — within hours of the state cabinet cancelling the land lease granted to the cricket body by the previous BJP government.
The government also simultaneously took control of four other prime properties of the HPCA — cricket academy at Lalpani in Shimla,upcoming stadium-cum-academy at Gumma near Kotkhai and two other cricket grounds at Naudan and Bilaspur — both part of Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency represented by HPCA president and BJP MP Anurag Thakur.
Sources said the cabinet debated the issue of cancellation of all land allotments to the HPCA for over two hours with not a single voice of dissent against the chief minister’s proposal to cancel the lease. He did not let the ministers leave till Kangra Deputy Commissioner C Paulrasu reported that the stadium and the hotel had been taken over.
A world-class cricket stadium,which had hosted several IPL matches and ODI between India and England,was a brainchild of Thakur,who as the HPCA president had built this property in a record time in 2003 and also managed to get BCCI nod for hosting international matches. The land was given to the HPCA on a token lease of Re 1 per month,as it was a sports promotion society registered in Himachal Pradesh.
Article 4 of the Himachal Pradesh lease rules — under which comes the 13 acres of land where the cricket stadium now stands — does not permit commercial use of such properties. The same applies to the land allotted for creating residential facilities (site of the hotel). However,in 2012,the HPCA had taken the government’s permission to run the hotel for commercial purpose.
“Such a permission was wrong and could not have been ordinarily granted,” said Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur.
Another charge against the HPCA was related to the move to change its status from a society registered in Himachal Pradesh to a company not registered in the state. The cabinet held that this cannot be done without permission of the government,which had given land or assets on a token lease of Re 1 per month.
“It was a breach of trust and a unilateral decision. It defeated the basic objective of allowing land on lease to a society (registered with the state government) and thus amounts to violation,” a senior minister said.
ASHWANI SHARMA
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