Goa govt accepts Pendse commission report on ticket scam

The Goa government on Wednesday accepted recommendations of Justice (Rtd) M L Pendse commission, which had alleged criminal conspiracy by Goa Cricket Association (GCA) managing committee members by printing bogus tickets for the 2001 ODI India-Australia cricket match in the state.

Panaji: The Goa government today accepted recommendations of Justice (Rtd) M L Pendse commission, which had alleged criminal conspiracy by Goa Cricket Association (GCA) managing committee members by printing bogus tickets for the 2001 ODI India-Australia cricket match in the state.

The commission`s report, submitted in 2001 itself, was rejected by erstwhile Pratapsingh Rane government in 2005, apparently as it indicted one of its ministers Dayanand Narvekar, who was also then GCA president. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters that the state cabinet has decided to "accept the recommendations of Pendse Commission". "You cannot allow criminals to go scot-free," Parrikar said, referring to the melee that preceded the one-day match held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, 30 km from here. Several bogus tickets were sold for the match, resulting in chaos at the main gate forcing police to cane-charge the cricket fans, many of whom had purchased genuine tickets the crucial match of the India-Australia series. The state government will implement recommendations of the commission, Parrikar said. "Some issues pointed out in the commission, set up in 2001, are now redundant," he said, adding that many issues like criminal conspiracy by GCA members, which is pointed out in the commission?s findings, has been dealt by the police. "Government has already formed a committee to study the financial irregularities in GCA, which was also one of the recommendations by the commission," the CM pointed out. In its report, the commission had indicted several GCA members including then chief Narvekar and current president Vinod Fadke. Secretive printing and circulation of bogus tickets, which were far in excess to the stadium`s capacity, was blamed for the chaos during the match. PTI