The Fact News Service
Chandigarh, May 2
It will be recalled that the Sports Department of the Chandigarh Administration had issued a show cause notice dated 31.1.2025 to the Chandigarh Lawn Tennis Association (CLTA) following revelations of serious lease violations, including the unauthorized subletting of government premises for commercial use. Sports lawyer Prasang Raheja has procured a copy of both the show cause notice issued by Chandigarh Sports department and the reply by CLTA dated February 25, 2025 to the notice.
Raheja in a press release issued, drew attention to a part of the reply which reads, “As intimated earlier, CLTA constructed a cafeteria outside the Stadium Building, in the CLTA complex, to provide energy drinks/ refreshment and nutritious food to the trainees of CLTA and participants in the AITA and International Tournaments conducted by CLTA which is well within the stated objectives of the Association. The decision to construct a cafeteria out of the CLTA funds was taken in the meeting of the Executive Committee of CLTA dated 17th May, 2002, in which the representative of the Chandigarh Administration was also present. Director Sports, Chandigarh is the Ex-Officio Member of the Executive Committee of CLTA. So the decision to construct and run a Cafeteria was well within the knowledge of the Administration from its very inception.”
Raheja said, “From this it is clear that CLTA has since 2002 been indulging in a clear breach of Clause 7 and Clause 9 of the lease agreement between Chandigarh Administration and CLTA, which strictly prohibit such subletting.”
Raheja reacting to the ‘excerpt’ from CLTA’s reply said, “From this it’s clear that CLTA has accepted that the cafeteria in question is running at the CLTA complex.” He added, “This also shows that the CLTA top brass are cornered and in desperation they are trying to make a brazen attempt to save their skin and cleverly shifting blame for their own wrong doing onto the Sports Department, citing the alleged awareness of officials as implicit approval. Such defenses are legally untenable and accountability must be fixed.”
“I would go a step further and say that it is quite surprising that for a prolonged period of time, no official from sports department or administration took up the illegal subletting of cafeteria issue, which points towards even administration being hand in glove with CLTA,” added Raheja.
It is pertinent to state here that a departmental audit conducted by Sports Department, Chandigarh Administration, in June 2024, brought to light that a section of the government-leased premises was sublet to a private operator as a cafeteria without prior approval from the competent authority. As a result of this a show cause notice was issued to CLTA by the department.
Raheja said, “A license fee was charged and was duly credited to the CLTA account, which has been accepted by CLTA in its reply. CLTA claims that the commercial use is for the benefit and promotion of the game, if that’s the case, the Chandigarh Administration should conduct a full forensic audit of the funds collected from the unauthorized commercial leasing of the cafeteria and how those funds have been used. This will help clear the air—if CLTA is indeed telling the truth, which seems doubtful given the association’s poor record in producing champion tennis players.”
He dismissed the CLTA’s claims about ‘developing players’, stating that most of the names cited have either quit tennis or are no longer active in their chosen careers.
He added that CLTA is shedding crocodile tears over ‘non-availability of funds’, and that it is a lame attempt to deflect attention from a serious violation of Clauses 7 and 9 of the lease agreement. “All major funds are provided by the Chandigarh Administration, including the maintenance bills, which are sent to the administration by CLTA. They also receive generous sponsorships from corporates, and the administration even pays for the AITA tournaments.”
Raheja in conclusion said, “The CLTA is trying to cover up its failure to produce world-class players. The administration should cancel CLTA’s lease agreement and recover the full unauthorized license fees accrued over more than two decades. An internal inquiry should also be constituted to investigate potential negligence or complicity by departmental officials during the period of violation.”
