Explain how SMS Stadium was given to RCA: HC to govt

Jaipur: Rajasthan High Court on Monday asked for the state govt’s response on how Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Stadium was given to Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA) and under which authority an MoU was signed on this in 2019. The court also sought records on this matter and asked the principal secretary of sports department to appear before it on Oct 7.
Hearing a bunch of petition seeking the quashing of an FIR registered against RCA officials, a single bench of Justice Sameer Jain asked, “How did the land of SMS Stadium go to RCA and under what authority was the MoU done for this? Its record should be called”.The stadium belongs to the state govt.
The petitions were filed by RCA’s former secretary Bhawani Shankar Samota, joint secretary Rajesh Bhadana and Treasurer Rampal, challenging the FIR registered by RCA’s ad hoc committee on Aug 8 at Jyoti Nagar police station. Commenting on the allegations levelled by RCA’s ad hoc committee on its former officials, the HC said, “Whenever the state govt changes, such allegations and counter-allegations start cropping up.”
The HC observed that it is a very serious matter as ordinary people cannot go to the stadium, but some people are using it. The HC also asked the counsels of the applicants to make State Sports Council and the registrar of cooperative Societies parties in this case. Counsel for RCA’s ad hoc committee, AK Jain, informed the court on why the FIR was lodged against the former office bearers of Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA).
Vivek Bajwa, the counsel for Samota, said the HC has sought records and asked for details on the MoU between Rajasthan Sports Council and RCA. The HC fixed the next hearing in the case for Oct 7.
Jaideep Bihani and Vimal Sharma of RCA’s ad hoc committee, along with some others, had lodged an FIR at Jyoti Nagar police station against Samota, Bhadana and others, accusing them of cheating.
It is alleged that they committed a scam of crores of rupees and embezzled the money by cheating and forging certain documents during their tenures at Rajasthan Cricket Association (RCA).