CHENNAI: Supreme Court-appointed retired judge L Nageswara Rao has called for a meeting with the 12 National Sports Federations and four State Olympic Association to hear their side on October 29 before finalising the parties eligible to be part of the election process.
While some are the usual parties like those representing two taekwondo factions or Andhra Olympic Associations, others seem quite interesting. According to the notice sent, the disputed parties need to present their points to the former SC judge. The hearing will be virtual and all parties will get a chance to present their case before finalising the list of legitimate NSFs and SOAs.
Among those on the list are the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation and Boxing Federation of India; Handball Association (India) and Handball Federation of India; Hockey India and India Hockey Federation; National Rifle Association of India and Uttar Pradesh State Rifle Association; India Taekwondo and Taekwondo Federation of India; Volleyball Federation of India and Volleyball Association of Uttaranchal; Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association and Andhra Pradesh Olympic Association and Tripura State Olympic Association and Tripura Sports Council.
For some of the federations like BFI, NRAI and HI, who are recognised by the sports ministry, the IOA and their International Federations, the meeting could be just academic. A few NSFs are not aware what could be transpiring in the meeting, but are hopeful things will get sorted. In the case of federations like taekwondo and handball — the sports were dropped from the National Games in Gujarat because of internal disputes — it will be interesting to see how things develop. Handball has two federations, each claiming to be legitimate, while with taekwondo, despite elections and fractured IOA recognition, there are discrepancies. The issue of the volleyball federation to is complicated. And Andhra Olympics have factions within.
Most of the parties apparently were part of the first meeting called by Nageswara Rao on October 14. All eyes will be on associations that are not recognised by the sports ministry and are under court-appointed administrators like Table Tennis Federation of India, Judo Federation of India. It would be interesting to see who would represent the NSFs in the Special General Meeting (SGM) on November 10 and later in the election.
The retired judge has been tasked to undertake: "Preparing the amendments to the constitution of the IOA; preparation of the electoral college; conducting the elections of the IOA, and prepare a road map for the amendment of the IOA constitution and for the conduct of the IOA elections."