Internal war erupts in Delhi Chess Association amid alleged financial irregularities

Chennai: An all-out internal war has broken out in the Delhi Chess Association (DCA) with the warring parties trading charges of financial irregularities, sexual harassment, absence of democracy, and others.

The warring parties are: the DCA President Bharat Singh Chauhan and nine other members on one side and the opposite side, consisting of secretary Ajeet Kumar Verma and treasurer Sandeep Singh.

In a sense, the DCA’s internal war could also be termed the silent war between the state association and the All India Chess Federation (AICF). The simmering war could even blow up into an open one.

The reason? The AICF has recently appointed Verma as its Head of Operations. Soon after that, the DCA’s Managing Committee, at its meeting held on August 10, decided to suspend Verma from all chess related activities due to an alleged financial irregularity.

Further, the AICF has sent a show cause notice to Chauhan, asking for clarifications on the points raised by the forensic audit conducted on its books of accounts.

"The show cause notice will be replied to,” Chauhan told IANS.

Is there a possibility of AICF disaffiliating DCA and appointing an ad-hoc committee to manage the latter’s affairs? The Indian chess body has done the same with other state associations in the past.

Further, the representatives of the DCA did not appear on the voter’s list during the AICF office bearers elections this year. The DCA members were allowed to vote on the orders of the Delhi High Court.

However, Chauhan and Verma do not foresee AICF disaffiliating DCA.

Be that as it may, coming back to DCA, its managing committee has nominated Ravi Tyagi as interim secretary in place of the suspended Verma.

The Committee, at its meeting held on the outskirts of Delhi, also decided to appoint or request a retired judge to independently investigate sexual harassment complaints against Verma.

The retired judge will submit his/her report to the DCA’s Managing Committee after giving a personal hearing opportunity to the complainant and Verma.

Terming the sexual harassment charge as trumped up or invented, Verma told IANS, "I have not seen any sexual harassment complaint lodged against me. I don’t know who has lodged such a complaint. DCA president Chauhan has been saying that he has received the complaint. But it was he who had appointed me as the DCA secretary earlier."

When contacted by IANS, Chauhan declined to share more details on the charge on the grounds of complainant’s privacy and secrecy.

On financial matters, the DCA’s managing committee, at its meeting, decided Verma and Singh to extend full cooperation for the submission of the accounts for the year 2023-24 on an urgent basis, and not later than in seven days’ time.

The DCA managing committee also decided that the entire matter will be investigated by the Internal Ethics Committee of the DCA for transparency and submit the report in 45 days.

In case Verma and Singh do not submit the accounts and documents in seven days, then the Interim Secretary will take necessary legal course of action, including filing FIR to retrieve about Rs 10 crore that was drawn from the bank under signatures of Verma and Singh, Chauhan said.

Responding to IANS on the charge of Rs 10 crore bank withdrawals Singh said, "The DCA’s balance sheet size is not even Rs 1 crore. Given this situation, how can there be Rs.10 crore with the DCA. The financial dealing charges are cooked up one."

"The audited accounts of DCA are being filed with the government every year signed by the President Chauhan," Singh, who runs an IT company, added.

Singh continued, "We have been complaining to the AICF about the management structure in DCA. The DCA Managing Committee is packed with people who are close to Chauhan."

Singh and Verma said Chauhan has been the DCA President for over two decades.

The other decisions of the DCA Managing Committee are:

- Approval of the Draft Constitution in line with the National Sports Development Code;

- President and Interim Secretary to look out for a Chief Operating Officer to manage the day-to-day affairs of DCA;

- Look out for rented office premises.

Chauhan said the AICF will be informed about the suspension of Verma as DCA Secretary.