Chandigarh (Gurpreet Singh) — The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice of motion to the Punjab Cricket Association management and the Enforcement Directorate in connection with alleged financial irregularities and inflated land acquisitions. Hearing a petition filed by former first-class Ranji Trophy cricketer Rakesh Handa, the court directed all key respondents to submit their formal responses by September 18, 2026.
The petition alleges that the cricket body acquired large land parcels in Bathinda measuring 18.5 acres and in Amritsar covering 19.5 acres at vastly inflated rates while bypassing mandatory administrative safeguards. According to the plea, agricultural plots originally purchased from local farmers for approximately 15 lakh rupees per acre were resold to the association within a few months at an exorbitant rate of 2.99 crore rupees per acre without prior financial approvals from the Governing Body or the Annual General Meeting.
The petitioner, who played for the Punjab Ranji squad between 1978 and 1982 and served two decades in the Customs and Central Excise Department, further claimed that his association membership was unlawfully suspended and subsequently terminated on May 21, 2026, to derail his complaints on technical grounds. The plea also highlighted that his monthly player pension had been withheld following the dispute, prompting the former athlete to seek a comprehensive, independent investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate into the two land transactions.
