DSA likely to accept office-bearers’ resignations

THE DELHI Soccer Association (DSA) is likely to formally accept the resignations of Hemchand, Nasir Ali, Sharafatullah, M.M. Sultan, Abdul Aziz and Bachi Ram after the one-man committee headed by vice-president, O. P. Malhotra, failed to convince the six office-bearers to reconsider their decision.

“The DSA had given them (the office-bearers) time to reconsider their decision but it seems they've rejected the proposal,” a source told HT on Wednesday.

“A meeting of the managing committee will be convened in a day or two and their resignations are likely to be accepted,” the source added.

Asked if the DSA had replacements in mind, the source responded in the negative. "The committee will authorise president Subhash Chopra to fill the vacancies, and it should not take much time."

Unaware of the latest development, general-secretary, N. K. Bhatia, said the DSA was yet to reach a conclusion and a clear picture would emerge only after Malhotra submitted his report.

When told the officials had turned down the proposal, Bhatia said, "We'll have to wait till the managing committee meets. Let's see what's there in the report."

The office-bearers quit after being “fed-up with Bhatia’s autocratic style of working” and stuck to their stand of not returning to the Ambedkar Stadium till the association agreed to some of their demands.

Critical of the present scenario, Hemchand, secretary of the Veterans Club and one of the vice-presidents of DSA, said, “If things remain the way they are, we will not rejoin office.”

While it’s common knowledge that politics and DSA go hand in hand, the main grouse is that the association had failed to hold an AGM in the last two years. Non-payment of the balance payment for 2005-06 and the budget estimate for 2007 being passed without the managing committee and council’s approval has also not gone down well with the men in question.