PCA president Chahal resigns

Deepankar Sharda

Chandigarh, October 13

Less than five months after becoming the youngest president of the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), Gulzar Inder Singh Chahal today resigned from the post.

The 39-year-old former cricketer and actor was unanimously elected as the president on May 27. “Due to personal reasons, I have tendered my resignation from the post of the PCA president,” confirmed Chahal.

However, reports of in-fighting in the PCA is said to be the reason behind Chahal’s resignation. It was only last week that former India cricketer Harbhajan Singh, who is also the PCA’s chief advisor, had accused the current PCA administrators, including the president, of “illegal activities”.

Harbhajan claimed to have received complaints from some of the office-bearers, who accused Chahal of granting life memberships to his close associates without following due procedure.

PCA honorary secretary Dilsher Khanna, honorary joint secretary Surjit Rai and two apex council members had filed a complaint about the issue with the PCA ombudsman-cum-ethics officer.

“The resignation was expected after various allegations were levelled against Chahal. The house will meet soon, probably after Diwali, to choose the new president,” said a senior functionary of the PCA.

Chahal’s tenure was the shortest in the PCA’s history. During his time, two stands at the PCA Stadium were named after former international cricketers Harbhajan and Yuvraj Singh.

Soon after Chahal stepped down, Harbhajan tweeted: “Truth might be troubled, but it cannot be suppressed.”