India’s second Grandmaster and Arjuna awardee Dibyendu Barua plans to bring a contempt of court plea against All India Chess Federation after a three-members AICF committee gave clean chit to the Federation joint secretary and Bengal chess Association suspended secretary Atanu Lahiri on a plethora of charges when the matter was sub-judice.
“This is clear case of contempt of court. The court is seized with the matter and had rejected Lahiri prayer against his removal as BCA secretary by the working committee of the BCA,” Barua told The Pioneer.
On October 15, late at night the AICF issued a report in which the three-member committee had given clean a chit to Lahiri.
Barua had accused Lahiri of routing huge amount of fund received from the state government to his own chess promotion company in a clear case of conflict of interest. Barua produced documents to show that Rs 23 lakh in cash was withdrawn from LahIri’s company--Global Chess- in around 53 weeks.
Interestingly, the committee has dismissed this charge saying the routing of fund to a personal company didn't not amount to misappropriation of fund and refused to to treat it as a case of conflict of interest. “ Since the fund does not relate to either the BCA or AICF, the question of any misappropriation of chess association fund does not Arise,” it said in its report.
This is a clear case of trying to deflect attention from the crucial charge that Lahiri used his position as the BCA secretary to divert fund to his company Global Chess— a clear case of conflict of interest.
And that is how it should have been treated by the committee instead of making an attempt to obfuscate the issue by talking about “misappropriation of funds.”
Barua also accused Lahiri of not allowing him to hold a youth tournament and banning two of India top players, Grandmaster Surya Sekhar Ganguly and Deep Sen Gupta, from taking part in Bengal Chess events. Lahiri also barred under-9 national girls' champion Sneha Haldar from playing in a tournament on disciplinary grounds.
Obviously, the committee had no intention to reach to the bottom of truth. Its members just met in Chennai without caring to visit West Bengal and meet the complainants and other stakeholders . The members did not care to meet the minister or secretary of the trial development department of West Bengal . The ministry had taken cognizance of Barua's complaint and terminated its agreement with Global Chess of Lahiri.
When a similar case of conflict of interest rocked the Indian cricket, there was so many hue and cries than an expert committee consisting of people from outside the BCCI were roped into probe the matter. But in the case of AICF, the task was given to a chosen few who were colleague of Lahiri himself.
To begin with the composition of the committee itself looked suspect since the AICF secretary was kept out of it. As per AICF constitution any such committee must include the AICF secretary. This makes the committee itself illegal.
Secondly, Barua had also written to the AICF President PR Venketrama Raja expressing his reservation about the committee . The AICF President should have realized that Barua is not wood pusher but a chess player of repute who had brought much laurels to the country and played a stellar role in popularizing chess. If a player of his stature makes some plea, it must be taken seriously. Alas, Barua was treated with sheer contempt and nothing else. His letter to the AICF President had no impact and the committee remained unchanged.
The committee’s finding flies in the face of the Court's proceedings.
The Court’s order clearly states the presence of a “prima facie” case even as it directed the AICF not to issue any direction to the BCA to hold election or take any other decision regarding the dispute.
The most intriguing things about the AICF clean chit to Lahiri on October 15 is that it came on the day when AICF central council met to discuss among others, the West Bengal affairs. The issue was foremost on the agenda, but AICF secretary Bharat Singh Chauhan announced that it would not be taken up because the matter was sub-judice. Only a few hours later, the AICF came out with the clean chit to Lahiri.
Why was not the report placed before the council? This is the question which has baffled the Barua camp.
“I never expected this committee o do any justice. I've never heard of such a farce. They confined themselves to Chennai and didn't even summon me to depose before them. Why didn’t they summon Surya Sekhar Ganguly and other chess players, who were banned by Lahiri? “
“ I’m going to fight till the bitter end. We can't allow a handful of self seeking officials to destroy the dignity of this game,” he said.
Of later, the India chess has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Charges of high-handness, illegal dismissal of state associations, threats and abuses by officials against players and juniors , and allegation of sleaze have destroyed the image of a game which was once linked with” gentlemen”.
“ The situation has become so grim that the day is not far when we will have some scandalous viedo involving some top officials out in open. That day we will have to hang our head in shame,” said a senior player.
“ I don't blame the AICF president. He is gentleman. Since he is a top businessman of the country , I don’t expect him to be involved in day to day affair of chess. Some people around him are taking advantage of the situation and trying to create a coterie. I hope the president will see through their design and do justice,”
