CHENNAI: As the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) could not obtain consensus from its secretary Prem Chand Lochab to hold an annual general meeting, it organised a special general meeting on Friday and made a few important amendments to the constitution.
According to the constitution, the president can call a special general meeting anytime. It was held on the sidelines of the ongoing U-15 and U-20 national championships in Noida.
Neither Lochab nor senior vice president Devender Kadyan, the two members from another faction who won the elections attend the meeting.
Kadyan contested as an executive member of the Assam unit but the state body was apparently not recognised by the WFI. The remaining 13 posts were won by the faction, which had the backing of former WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
Incidentally, Karan, son of Brij Bhushan, who is president of the Uttar Pradesh unit, too didn't attend the meeting. Incumbent WFI president Sanjay Kumar Singh and the UP association secretary represented the state.
During the meeting, the WFI decided to arrange funds for its functioning, hosting national camps and sending teams abroad if the sports ministry doesn't consider its request to revoke the suspension of the federation.
"The WFI has already sent a request in this regard and will do so again. The United World Wrestling revoked the suspension and even the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) dissolved the ad-hoc committee formed to manage WFI's affairs so the WFI should be recognised by the ministry as well. But if suspension continues, the WFI will have no option but to arrange funds and run its affairs," a source in the know of developments told this daily.
Notably, the government grants funds for training, competitions and foreign exposure trips of the wrestlers under heads like the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition (ACTC).
Apart from this, a few important amendments were also made to the constitution. The WFI decided that from now on a candidate contesting for the second time but for a different post would not be required to win by a two-third majority or more. Interestingly, the old clause meant Sanjay Singh, who was a joint secretary in the previous regime, had to win by two-third majority to replace Brij Bhushan at the helm. "The old clause was not clear and this led to confusion during the election last year. The amendment is done to bring clarity," added the source.
Another important change is the removal of a clause from the constitution that made it mandatory for a state unit to obtain recognition from its respective state Olympic association to get affiliation from the WFI. "That clause was meant for a new state unit applying for affiliation but it was misused during the last election. Anyway, there is a court ruling that says the state Olympic body should have no say in the affiliation of the state unit from its respective national federation."
The WFI also decided to make every affiliated unit compliant with the Sports Code as was directed by the court.
"Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh and Rajasthan units held their elections recently complying with all provisions of the Sports Code and now every affiliated unit has to make sure it is compliant," affirmed the source.