SC asks DDCA to furnish receipts of payment made to SDMC

The Supreme Court today asked cricket body DDCA to furnish the receipts of payments made to South Delhi Municipal Corporation to obtain no-objection certificate (NOC) for holding cricket matches in the Ferozshah Kotla stadium.

A bench comprising justices J S Khehar and C Nagappan asked the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) to furnish the receipts and posted the matter for further hearing on April 1.

During the brief hearing, the bench was reluctant to give an opportunity to the cricket body for filing further documents in support of its claim that the requisite payments have been made to the civic authority.

However, senior advocate L Nageshwar Rao, appearing for DDCA, sought time for filing the reciepts on the ground that there have been some kind of negligence and the cricket body be allowed to bring the documents on record.

On March 18, the apex court had agreed to give urgent hearing to DDCA’s petition against a Delhi High Court order dismissing its application seeking restoration of a plea for a NOC from SDMC for the Ferozshah Kotla stadium which was denied Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) clearance.

The Delhi High Court by its March 3 order had dismissed DDCA’s application to restore its 1997 petition seeking NOC from MCD for the stadium.

In its 1997 petition, the DDCA had challenged a June 1992 notification of ASI, as per which construction within 100 metres of ‘Kotla Baoli’ is prohibited.

As per DDCA’s petition, only the outer parapet wall of the monument was at a 100 metre distance from the stadium and not the actual monument. It had also said there was a road between the monument’s wall and the stadium.

The petition was dismissed in 2013 for non-prosecution, but was allowed to be revived if DDCA paid Rs 10,000 as cost each to the MCD, the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment, Delhi Urban Arts Commission and ASI.

In its petition, DDCA had also sought a direction to the municipal body to restore the stadium’s sanctioned plan.

The cricketing body had submitted that under Delhi Master Plan, Ferozshah Kotla has been earmarked as a cricket ground.

The stadium was built with the requisite permission and the only change made thereafter was adding of one more floor to the R P Mehra block of the stadium.