NEW DELHI: It will be status quo at the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) after its Executive Board's decision Friday to allow its chief Suresh Kalmadi to stay away from its activities and continue with Vijay Kumar Malhotra as acting president.
The board said there was no need to take any action against Kalmadi in view of the two letters he has written to Malhotra. All it will do by way of action is to forward the correspondence to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which wants the national Olympic committee to proceed against Kalmadi as he faces corruption charges in the conduct of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
After Kalmadi, a member of the Lok Sabha from Pune, was released on bail in January after spending nine months in jail, he told his supporters in the IOA that he is innocent and should not be held guilty till the courts decide the case.
Both his supporters and detractors in private gave the impression that there could be some fireworks at the board meeting, but no one spoke at the meeting, which lasted barely 15 minutes.
The board accepted the two Kalmadi letters, in which he has stated that he would not "assert his rights and obligations" as the IOA president as he would not be able to function in that capacity for a long time.
After the meeting, attended by 32 of the 35 board members, Malhotra said the national body has replied to the IOC's three letters.
"The Executive Committee unanimously accepted the two letters written by Kalmadi to IOA Acting President, which said that he would not assert his rights and obligations as IOA President as he would not be able to function as IOA chief for long time," Malhotra told reporters after the meeting.
Asked about IOC threats, Malhotra said: "The Executive Committee passed a resolution that the IOA Acting President will continue as IOA chief with all the powers under its Constitution. We have replied to all the letters sent to us by the IOC. We will wait for replies from the IOC."
Asked about the IOA's stand on the IOC wanting to know about the charge sheet filed against Kalmadi, Malhotra said: "The IOA has nothing to do with it. It's a matter between the government and Kalmadi. It's a court case and the IOA can't do anything in that."
On being prodded why Kalmadi had not resigned as yet, Malhotra said: "You should ask him. He has said he would not assert his rights and obligations as IOA president."
Malhotra also said the executive committee passed a resolution to approve the amended rules of the Ethics Commission, adopting the rules of the IOC Ethics Commission.
"The Executive Committee also approved the new rules issued by the IOC Ethics Commission in January. We have circulated the IOC rules to all the members as well as the members of the Ethics Commission of IOA and have sought for suggestions from them within 10 days. All this will be incorporated and sent to the IOC for approval," he added.