Curious case of AACS chairmanship

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 19

The election of the new president of Chandigarh’s BJP unit on Friday has caused a curious situation for UT sports.

The post of the chairman of the standing committee of the Administrator’s Advisory Council for Sports (AACS) is an ex-officio position, allocated to the president of the city unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). On Friday, Arun Sood replaced Sanjay Tandon as the president of the Chandigarh BJP unit.

Still in charge?

According to a press statement issued by the BJP on the evening of January 18, Tandon asked the manager of the stadium to provide details, exercising his powers as the chairman of AACS.

“In April, the National Cricket Academy, run by former cricketer Rahul Dravid, is considering organising a one-month camp at Sector 16 Cricket Stadium, Chandigarh. Under which, Sanjay Tandon, Chairman, Administrator Advisory Council, Sports Committee inspected the stadium on January 18, along with the manager of the stadium Sanjay Sharma, UTCA officials and coaches,” the press statement said, adding: “According to the information given by the stadium manager and coaches, a lot of space needs to be repaired in the infrastructure of the stadium for organising the national level camp.”

The statement continued: “Tandon asked the manager to provide the exact ability to sitting arrangement with and without chairs in the stadium, to increase the chances of organising future national and international matches in Chandigarh.”

Headed by BJP chief

As per information obtained by The Tribune through an RTI application, AACS is headed by the president of the UT unit of the BJP. Its members include the president of the Chandigarh Golf Club, president of the Chandigarh Press Club, decorated shooter Abhinav Bindra, Saubhagya Vardhan (director of North Zone Cultural Centre) and Promila Chandra Mohan, the secretary of the Society for the Rehabilitation of Mentally Challenged (SRMC). Director Sports of the UT is also an ex-officio member and is also the general secretary of the committee. All the members were appointed in 2019 for a period of three years.

November meeting

In November 2019, the committee decided that their members would visit sports complexes from time to time to solve the problems faced by sportspersons. Tandon, who is rendered a former chairman after being replaced as the city BJP chief, made a visit to the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium on Saturday, and officials say that the visit may have been “pre-scheduled”.

Incidentally, in just the next sector is the Sector 17 Football Stadium, which has been under construction for nearly three years and desperately needs some official attention.

“In the last meeting, the committee members were allotted some stadiums for their visits. This visit to Sector 16 Stadium may have been pre-scheduled. However, the question of the former chairman still being a member remains an issue,” said an official of the UT Sports Department.

Bindra a mere member

Out of the six officials on the committee, there is only one decorated sportsperson— shooter Abhinav Bindra, the Olympics gold medallist. He is merely a member of the committee and his name features at third number of the members’ list. Sources claimed that he was not part of the meeting in November.

Process of meetings

As per the existing practice, the member secretary of the committee (Director Sports) informs the members about meetings and also asks them about their availability for attending them. The proceedings of the November meeting were discussed under the chairman and were later communicated to the concerned and the media.

The Tribune has sought Tandon’s comments on the matter.