DDCA mess: Is Jaitley scared of inquiry?

In the guise of federalism, many controversial matters have been covered up. Firstly, is India federal at all? Not according to the Constitution. The words "federal" and "federation" don't find mention in the Constitution. In the debates in the Constituent Assembly, Babasaheb Ambedkar stated that depending on circumstances, the Constitution could be unitary or federal as circumstances required. The division of power is clearly in favour of the Union (wrongly called the Centre or Central government, but indicative of the reality).

The Union government has 97 subjects - the majority - on which it can legislate; states have 66 subjects on which it has jurisdiction; and there are 47 subjects on which the Union can overrule the states in case of a conflict. This, in sum, means that the Union has 97+47 = 144 items/powers as opposed to the 66 items/powers in the state list. All residuary powers go to the Union, unlike in real federations. So India is clearly a centralised state, at the most a unitary state with federal characteristics.

Now take the case of Rajendra Kumar, IAS, and principal secretary to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. Based on information going back to 2007, according to the Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, a case was prepared against the Kumar. Why weren't the chief minister and lieutenant-governor informed, so that they could take necessary action? Jaitley's statement that Kejriwal does not respect federalism begs the question if offices of senior officers attached to the chief minister can be raided without prior information. Can the system be called federal?

The issue of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) and accusations of corruption by ex-cricketers is coterminous. This has been going on for years and often reported in the media. This did not stop the Delhi government under former chief minister Sheila Dikshit from ordering an inquiry. There were inquiries in the Commonwealth Games scandal which exposed massive corruption. So the sports-politics-corruption interlock is well known and exists in various sports, states, parties and so on.

The affairs of the DDCA must be thoroughly investigated. It must become a public company with its accounts, decisions and power structures completely transparent (including proxies). Jaitley is a powerful politician. But not having a swift inquiry is not in public interest. Having it will also help in exposing the mechanisms of corruption and high-handedness within the cricket administration if these do exist as claimed, thereby restoring confidence in the DDCA.

We all know what happened in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It seems from the spate of allegations that a house-cleaning is overdue in the DDCA. Former Indian cricketer Bishan Singh Bedi's claim that some important members of the DDCA are also in important posts in the Hockey India is staggering! So sports administrators with connections wield a huge clout in both cricket and hockey in the country. All this must stop for the good of sports and for a swift cleansing of the administration and restructuring of the process of selecting players, coaches, selectors, funds, stadia, and so on.