DLTA seeks Rs 39 crore from AITA Trust, alleges fraud by ex-chairman Khanna; land deals with own companies surface

By Amanpreet Singh

The Delhi Lawn Tennis Association (DLTA) has accused former AITA Trust chairman Anil Khanna of "fraudulently" executing agreements that enabled the Trust to receive crores of rupees from the association's stadium rental revenue. The land transactions between the Trust and companies owned by him have also come under scrutiny after he paid Rs 1.60 crore as interest for the delayed transfer of land.

Anil Khanna, responding to the allegations, said that he paid such an amount to the Trust but it was not for any "wrongdoing".

Khanna paid the money to AITA Trust for selling his land in Gurugram -- where once National Tennis Academy stood -- through his companies RLF Limited and ULIL Limited, but not transferring the ownership.

DLTA, led by Rohit Rajpal, is seeking a recovery of Rs 39 crore from the AITA Trust along with interest for amount remitted between 2006 and 2023.

The twin developments have brought the functioning of the AITA Trust under fresh scrutiny with questions raised over governance, financial decisions and conflict-of-interest issues during Khanna's stewardship.

DLTA vs AITA Trust

In a notice dated July 14, DLTA alleged that the AITA Trust had been "fraudulently appropriating" rental income generated from various portions of the R.K. Khanna Tennis Stadium (now DLTA Stadium), claiming the revenue rightfully belonged to the association.

Seeking recovery of Rs 39,09,03,858 along with 18 % annual interest, DLTA alleged that Khanna, while simultaneously serving as chairman of the AITA Trust, president of DLTA and president of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), abused his multiple positions to execute "false and misleading agreements" that enabled the Trust to receive a share of the stadium's rental income.

According to DLTA, the agreements dated April 2, 2014 and June 1, 2017 were terminated in January 2023 and all payments to the Trust were stopped thereafter.

DLTA contends they were executed without authority and to its detriment, the AITA Trust maintains they merely formalised its pre-existing rights over portions of the old stadium and the rental income arising from those assets.

Current AITA Trust chairman Dr Anil Jain rejected the DLTA allegations outright.

"This is DLTA's version. The Trust has a valid claim under the agreements. The matter will now go to arbitration. In fact, we believe DLTA owes money to the Trust and not the other way around," he said.

Explaining the Trust's position, Jain said AITA had created the Trust in 2000 after transferring its assets to it and that the Trust subsequently acquired rights over portions of the stadium developed using AITA funds.

"The Trust was created by AITA, which transferred its assets to it. The Trust's income has always been meant for development of tennis and training activities. DLTA's present stand is only to protect itself and the dispute will ultimately be decided through arbitration," he added.

Khanna, meanwhile, dismissed DLTA's allegations as "completely wrong" and maintained that the AITA Trust was a legally constituted body with legitimate ownership rights over portions of the stadium.

"The claim of DLTA is completely wrong. The AITA Trust built the original stadium after AITA invested the money. The agreements were duly approved and registered to protect the Trust's ownership rights. They are completely valid," Khanna told PTI.

"The old portion of the stadium belonged to AITA Trust and new stadium belonged to AITA Trust, and DLTA. Government funds were used to create it," he added.

It has been learnt that DLTA earns around 8 crore a month through government-approved rent agreements.

It pays salaries to a staff of about 140.

A finance expert said it worked in transferring the funds to AITA Trust from DLTA since since DLTA is tax paying entity while Trust is not as per a certain clause in Income Tax rules.

"That way all the money in AITA Trust became non taxable. It could be seen as tax evasion as well," he said.

Deals between AITA Trust and Khanna's companies

Separately, documents accessed by PTI show that during his tenure as Trust chairman, Khanna oversaw the purchase of land in Gurugram from RLF Ltd and ULIL Ltd, companies promoted by him and now associated with members of his family.

The transactions have drawn attention because Khanna was heading the Trust when it acquired the land from his own companies.

The issue resurfaced after Khanna recently deposited Rs 1.60 crore with the Trust.

Jain told PTI that the amount was not a penalty for any financial irregularity, but "interest" recovered from Khanna because the Trust had paid for the land years before its transfer and registration were completed recently.

"The Trust had paid for the land earlier but the registration happened much later. Since the land transfer was delayed, the Trust recovered interest of around Rs 1.60 crore from Mr Khanna. It was a recovery of interest and not recovery for any bungling," Jain said.

Jain said the Trust had constituted an internal committee to examine the land transactions, and based on its findings no further action was taken against Khanna.

Khanna said "some mistakes" happened during his tenure but he never misused the funds.

"The Trust had been using my land free of cost for nearly 15 years for its academy, no one saw conflict of interest then. Anyway, later, the Trust decided through proper resolutions to purchase portions of that land at rates below the prevailing market value.

"Since the registration happened much later, the Trust asked me to pay interest for the delay in transferring the land, and I paid about Rs 1.60 crore to close the issue. It was not an admission of wrongdoing," he said.

"I had paid a few salaries for DLTA staff from AITA Trust because I considered DLTA and AITA Trust as one entity, never thought such a thing would be presented in this manner.

"Then they said that I travelled in business class when I was supposed to fly only in economy. I was fed up with all this and decided to pay everything back to Trust. I was feeling depressed and wanted it over."

It has been learnt that initially Trust owned 2 acres of land and in 2017 one acre was acquired from Khanna's company RLF and Rs 2 crore was paid to Khanna's company.

Asked why AITA Trust did not develop tennis courts on its own land and rather opted to use land belonging to RLF for tennis activities, Khanna said, "What do I say on that."

It has been learnt an MoU was signed between AITA Trust and RLF Limited in 2018 with regards to National Tennis Academy.

NTA was shut post COVID-19 but in 2021 AITA Trust bought more land from Khanna's other company ULIL Limited for about 3 crore.

Responding to questions on conflict of interest, Khanna denied any impropriety.

"My interest in the transaction was fully disclosed. The purchases were approved through resolutions of the Trust and were in its interest because they consolidated land for the academy. There was no concealment," he said.

Khanna also alleged that the controversy was being fuelled by "vendetta" ahead of the AITA elections and said neither he nor any member of his family intended to contest.

The developments have added another layer to the turmoil in Indian tennis administration.