Gulzar Inder Singh Chahal resigned on Thursday night after being accused of corruption by former Indian player and Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh, who claimed Chahal attempted to “illegally” induct 150 members with voting rights into the organisation.
Gulzar Singh, president of the PCA, resigns when Harbhajan Singh accuses him of corruption
Rajinder Gupta, the previous PCA president, resigned six months before the end of his tenure, prompting the selection of Chahal and his staff earlier this year. Chahal was a former junior player for India. Members of the PCA Apex Council and executive committee brought up the subject of the new members last week.
The new Apex Council had never met under Chahal for the purpose of electing new members or to discuss any other topics. On the PCA website, it is stated that there are more than 240 life members of the organisation, including former BCCI and PCA president IS Bindra, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour, former cricketers Reetinder Singh Sodhi and Dinesh Mongia, Daksh Prem Azad, the grandson of the late DP Azad, who received the Dronacharya award, and his father Monish Azad.
A few individuals reportedly paid the lifetime membership price earlier this week, according to the PCA Apex Council member. “When we looked into the situation, we discovered that many of the 150 or so new members on the list are members of Mr. Chahal’s family and professional contacts from Jalandhar and Ludhiana.
We have lodged a complaint based on the fact that these individuals also paid a membership fee by depositing money into the PCA Bank account. The PCA Apex Council member said that other PCA office holders were not contacted about this.
Manjinder Singh, the president of the Mohali Cricket Association, complained to the PCA ethics officer last week over Chahal’s choice of Ajay Alipuria and Co., a chartered accounting firm, to serve as the PCA auditors at a salary of Rs 10 lakh per year. Patran Rice Exports, a business where Chahal serves as a director, has its finances managed by the same audit firm.