Harbhajan Singh alleges illegal activities by Punjab Cricket Association chief, writes strongly-worded letter

Former India cricketer and Punjab Cricket Association chief advisor wrote a strongly-worded open letter to all the stakeholders of the cricket body, alleging illegal activities by its president with regards to offering new memberships.

Harbhajan urged the members and the stakeholders of the PCA to come together and stop such illegal activities to preserve the integrity of the state body.

World Cup-winning former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who also serves as a Rajya Sabha MP, said he has been receiving complaints over the last 10 days that PCA president Gulzarinder Singh Chahal has been resorting to illegal activities, which he termed as against the spirit of cricket administration and transparency.

“For the last week or 10 days, I have been receiving numerous complaints from cricket lovers in Punjab and several stakeholders that the PCA under the present president is resorting to a lot of illegal activities, which is against transparency and the spirit of cricket administration.

“I learned that yesterday, complaints in this regard have been lodged with the Ombudsman,” Harbhajan wrote in the letter.

Harbhajan said that the crux of the issue was the Punjab Cricket Association was trying hard to “induct around 150 members with voting rights to tilt the balance in their favour and these inductions are being done without the assent of the apex council/General Body.

Harbhajan said he was also not consulted regarding the same, adding that these activities are also against the BCCI constitution, guidelines of the PCA, and violation of transparency and ethical norms in the administration of sports bodies.

“These are against the BCCI constitution, guidelines of the PCA and the violation of transparency and ethical norms in the administration of sports bodies. To hide their illegal activities, they are not organizing formal meetings of the PCA, and are taking all the decisions suo moto which serve their selfish motives,” Harbhajan claimed.

Harbhajan Singh, who had played for Punjab in domestic cricket, was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning team and the 50-over World Cup-winning team in 2011.

He retired from all formats of the game in 2021, after having played 103 Tests, 236 ODIs, and 28 T20is.