IOA, sports ministry must act carefully

This is a worrying sign. More baffling is the way the ministry and IOA are handling these matters.

Of late, there has been a rise in the number of cases of national sports federations violating the National Sports Code. Over the last few years, there have been federations governing sports like gymnastics, archery, taekwondo, equestrian and chess that have drawn the attention of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and sports ministry for this reason. This is a worrying sign.

More baffling is the way the ministry and IOA are handling these matters. The case of the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) is an example. The RFI elections were held on December 6 last year. Both the IOA and ministry sent observers and elections were held as per the constitution. No one raised objections. However, suddenly in January, the IOA and sports ministry sent letters to RFI, nullifying the elections and asking them to change the constitution. They said the fault was allowing proxy representation and three councillors to cast votes. It is to be mentioned that the IOA, too, allows three councillors to vote and proxy representation is acceptable in its own constitution.

This has not gone down well with most federations. The ministry’s objections and the subsequent threat to withdraw recognition without issuing a show-cause notice also raised eyebrows among sports administrators who have been in this field for a long time. More so, because the same ministry had extended the controversial Equestrian Federation of India’s recognition despite serious objections raised by district units on the ambiguous voting pattern.

It is imperative that the ministry sends the right signal to federations, especially after it has taken a number of athlete-friendly steps. It has been trying to be strict while dealing with the errant federations. If it wants to exert its authority to the fullest, it has to be impartial and the policies should be uniform. Even the IOA that has so many factions must act cautiously in order to ensure that it does not lose faith. The sports ministry, too, should tread carefully so that no one can accuse it of penalising federations selectively.

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