CHENNAI: The Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) emergency meeting, called by the president, PT Usha, on Thursday is expected to be volatile.
The one-point agenda – the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) – is expected to be converted into a multi-point agenda. The 12 members of the Executive Committee apparently have written to Usha to include 14 more points that need to be discussed during the emergency EC meeting.
The tussle of power between the IOA president and the EC members has reached its tipping point. The IOA president had issued show cause notices to five members of the EC after receiving complaints from an undisclosed person. The complainant had raised concerns about the eligibility of the five EC members, including its senior vice president, Ajay Patel, and treasurer, Sahdev Yadav.
The IOA president has asked them to clarify whether they are in violation of sports code, especially when it comes to term and tenure. The allegations are that some of the EC members have already completed a maximum of 12 years (three four-year terms) in office in a National Sports Federation as stipulated in the sports code. Following sports code has been made mandatory through various directives of the sports ministry and courts.
If the IOA president has sent show cause notices for flouting sports code guidelines, then the EC members have questioned the entire selection procedure for the posts of Sportspersons of Merit (SOMs). The first point the EC members want to discuss (on Thursday) is “the issue of the selection process adopted for selecting Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit and their participation in the election process of the IOA for elected post... (dated: 10.12.2022)”.
Usha is one of the eight SOMs who were selected by the IOA’s Athletes Commission. There are at least four SOMs in the EC (that has a total of 15 members): PT Usha (athletics), Yogeshwar Dutt (wrestling), Rohit Rajpal (tennis) and Dola Banerjee (archery). Dutt, Rajpal and Banerjee are EC members and signatory to the 14-point agenda list sent to the IOA president for Thursday’s meeting. MM Somaya (hockey), Suma Shirur (shooting), Aparna Popat (badminton) and Akhil Kumar (boxing) are the other members.
The letter written by one of the contestants to Rajeev Mehta, the then secretary of the IOA, had questioned the validity of the process that went into selecting the eight names. It also alleged, since the general body has ratified the names, whether their names can be incorporated in the electoral college or make them eligible to contest elections. Interestingly, it is understood that the general body did not raise any objection to the ratification of the SOMs names in 2022.
Whether or not they are eligible is a different question. But going through the List of Nominated Candidates (2022 IOA election; Form 3 dated 29.11.2022) for the election reveals an interesting story. There were not too many contestants but those who won were more or less proposed and seconded by the same set of people.
For example, the president, an SOM, was proposed by all powerful chief minister of Assam and Badminton Association of India chief Himanta Biswa Sarma and seconded by M Somaya, an SOM. Ajay Patel was proposed by former union minister Arjun Munda and seconded by an SOM, Dutt. Name of Gagan Narang, the vice president, was proposed by former tainted Wrestling Federation of India president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and an SOM, Usha. Sahdev Yadav’s name was proposed by AITA president and former MP Anil Kumar Jain and seconded by Aparna Popat.
Again Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, who completed his 12-year tenure in Wushu federation, was proposed by Amitabh Sharma and Dutt (SOM). Davis Cup captain Rajpal’s name was proposed by Usha herself and Banerjee (both SOMs). Banerjee was proposed by Aparna and Narang, while that of Dutt was by Bijbhushan and Sahdev.
The fight between the IOA president and the EC members is threatening the very existence of the IOA. The members are in fact questioning the very election through which they were elected.
Whether or not an official can continue in the IOA after finishing a 12-year term or tenure depends on interpretation. A recent ruling in February (01.02.2024: Rahul Mehra vs Union of India) this year says that 13 points listed in the 16.08.2022 order needed to be followed right to the district level, including the IOA.
Whatever the result of the meeting be on Thursday, one thing is sure. The very election through which they were elected is now under the scanner.