Pune: The beleaguered All India Tennis Association (AITA) and the Delhi Lawn Tennis Association received a rude jolt on Tuesday with a legal notice to Delhi’s Land & Development Officer (L&DO) and various ministries of Union government calling for their eviction from the DLTA Sports Complex in New Delhi.Alleging several breaches of the land lease conditions including unauthorized commercial use of 56,000 square feet, outstanding dues of more than Rs. 32 crore, and not having two government nominees on its board, tennis professional Ajay Yashpaul called for the sealing of the premises and declare all past elections and internal transactions of the DLTA null and void in his notice.The DLTA premises houses the AITA head office. Besides the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, which oversees L&DO, the ministries of Law and Environment have also been made respondents in the notice, a copy of which is with The Times of India.Justice (Retd) Gita Mittal, who has been appointed Administrator of AITA by the Delhi High Court while ruling on a writ petition filed by Davis Cuppers Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja, has also been made a respondent by virtue of her role.Detailing the breaches, the notice alleged that the “seven acres of prime land” had been given to DLTA through a “temporary lease” in 1981 and had been renewed from “time to time”, with the latest one expiring in 2031 at a “highly concessional value” of Rs. 31 lakh per annum.“Official inspection in 1996, 2003 and on multiple occasions verified continuous unauthorized construction and illegal renting of space within the public sports complex to outside corporate companies and commercial institutions” which had “zero correlation to sports development.”As per the notice, In 2002, AITA attempted to legalize the various violations by paying L&DO Rs. 7 lakh as five percent of the latter’s share of the income received. But the government “explicitly dismissed it and ordered the amount to be refunded, thereby confirming the illegality.”Again, the notice alleged, in 2010 the DLTA sought to legitimize the subletting by claiming itself to be a “socio-cultural” organization. The Law Ministry, however, categorically ruled that the 2008 subletting policy did not cover sports-focused bodies like DLTA.Yet, DLTA proceeded to unlawfully sublet more than 56,000 square feet space of its premises to outside corporate and commercial organizations, lawyer Prasang Raheja alleged in the notice.Despite repeated violations, the L&DO, “instead of eviction”, allowed the DLTA to liquidate outstanding dues through easy instalments. “Yet, the respondents (DLTA) failed to honour the instalment schedule and continued to remain in persistent default, thereby demonstrating complete disregard for its contractual and statutory obligations,” the notice read.The notice said that although the “foundational temporary lease agreement” called for permanent appointment of “two government nominees with full voting rights on the DLTA Board to protect public interest, in total defiance of this condition, no government nominee has ever been integrated into the board.” The notice also made note of the AITA, in its Extraordinary General Meeting, fixing 75 years as the age limit for its office bearers while amending its constitution to align itself with the National Sports Governance Act, 2025.Justice Mittal, however, had applied strict interpretation of the age limit clause in the Act and suggested fixing it at 70 years.Citing the same and the grave violation by one of its affiliates, the notice called for the AITA to be placed under continued monitoring of the Administrator, and for AITA to examine the continued affiliation of the DLTA.Yashpaul, in his notice, set a deadline of 15 days for the L&DO and the ministries to comply with his demands, failing which he would file a PIL in the Delhi High Court.
