No policy for leasing out local sports complexes

Deepankar Sharda

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 12

The UT Sports Department has no specific rules for leasing out their sports complexes to any particular private body. Yes, this is true! The Sports Department accepted this officially while replying to an RTI query filed by The Tribune.

In the past, if any private body wanted to take any of the sports complexes on lease —even for running it on no-profit, no-loss basis — all they needed was good contacts in the UT Administration.

For instance, the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA), which is a private body, as is also on record with the UT Sports Department, was given a prime piece of land in Sector 10 on an annual lease (ground rent) of only Rs 100. Interestingly, the 20-year lease agreement with CLTA, which began on January 16, 1997, ended on January 15, 2017.

The Sports Department has agreed to renew the lease and but the process has been still under consideration. As per CLTA’s website, the association has different modules of coaching for which fees are charged from the trainees. As per the information provided by the Sports Department on the RTI query, the department has made administrative approvals of sums around Rs 9.5 crore for different works for CLTA, which makes it the only private sports body in the city to receive such help from the department.

Another example is the Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA), which was allotted office accommodation at the Sector 16 Cricket Stadium. Interestingly, the association was allotted this office space at a time when it had not even been affiliated with the Indian cricket board (BCCI) and was a private society. The office space was allotted to the association in the early 1990s and later was reallocated to UTCA in November 2014 for a sum of Rs 300 per month.

“There are certain things to consider. The lease of CLTA was signed way back in 1997 and I don’t want to comment anything on what has already happened in the past,” said Tejdeep Singh Saini, Director Sports. “We are renewing the lease and it will be completed soon. Without any doubt the land belongs to us and we are trying to improve it further. The association is doing a good job and I was told they are also coaching some young kids for free. So, the lease is being renewed.”

Cricket stadium on lease?

Sources claim that UTCA has also been trying to get the Sector 16 Stadium on lease, citing the case of the Sector 10 complex being given to CLTA on lease. However, the proposal has not reached the competent authority yet.

“On the Sector 16 Stadium, I will again say that the land belongs to us. There is no question of leasing it out completely but yes, we have to find a mechanism in terms of improving the stadium with the help of the local association and BCCI. They (BCCI) won’t be giving funds directly to us. Though we have adequate amount of funds and staff for looking after our own complexes, for the betterment of the players we will be working on a mechanism with the local association,” said Saini.

Interestingly, UTCA president Sanjay Tandon is the chairman of the Standing Committee of Administrator’s Advisory Council. This raises the question whether the administration will lease out the Sector 16 Stadium, which is among its highest revenue-generating infrastructures, to UTCA.

In the past, Rajan Kashyap ( founder and life president of CLTA) also headed the Administrator’s Advisory Council for Sports with the recently-elected Chandigarh mayor Rajbala Malik.

No eligibility rules or

set charges

The Sports Department admitted that there are no specific rules under which private associations or bodies becomes eligible for claiming space/grounds/stadiums on lease. Besides, there are no set charges to lease out any property of the Department to any private body.