CHENNAI: The IOA president has had the last laugh. The Executive Committee of the Indian Olympic Association has finally called for truce and agreed to ratify the appointment of Chief Executive Officer Raghuram Iyer. The CEO, as mandated by the amended constitution, has called for a Special General Meeting in August. The SGM would consider and pass the audited statement of accounts for the financial year 2023-24, which was still pending. It (at SGM) will also appoint a statutory auditor for 2024-25 and approve submission of bids to the Commonwealth Sports for hosting the 2030 Commonwealth Games. The CEO is active and as expected the dynamics within the IOA is set to change. Though there could be a salary cut from `20 lakh a month agreed upon last year but it's yet to be announced. Even if there is, it doesn't matter. The CEO in IOA wields immense power, second to the president. He is as powerful, if not more, than the secretary general in the earlier dispensation.
Short backgrounder
Just to jog readers’ memory, the feud between the EC and IOA president PT Usha started last year in January when she placed the appointment of CEO Raghuram Iyer with the EC for ratification. Initially, according to the IOA president, the EC agreed her proposal with a rider; to renegotiate CEO’s salary, which the EC thought was too high. The IOA president then endorsed the appointment saying it was done after renegotiating the salary.
However, India’s worst phase of sports administration hit its nadir when the feud turned into an ugly public spat. There were multiple forces in action. Things were different then. The sports minister was different, so was the sporting ecosystem. The sports ministry had a different secretary. The Sports Authority of India was all powerful with its top officials overseeing almost all sporting programmes including the Annual Calendar for Training and Competition. The NSFs looked feeble.
Just to put some context, the way athletes’ commission members were elected before IOA election in 2022 seemed a bit weird. The first part of the nomination of elections was conducted from the premises of the SAI. “The voting shall take place on 14.11.2022 (Monday) between 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at VIP Lounge of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Complex, Pragati Vihar, New Delhi 110003,” read the returning officers’ notice on electing athletes commission. It is common knowledge that of the 40 odd applications of top athletes from different disciplines all but 10 withdrew overnight. And they in turn selected the eight Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit. Two persons from the athletes commission had voting rights in the general assembly along with the eight SOMs. The EC right from the beginning led by the senior vice president, joint secretary, vice president and others wanted to assert themselves, something that did not go down well with Usha and she was forced to appoint an Executive assistant.
New minister, changed outlook
The EC feud after the January meeting turned bitter and the EC went to the extent of pasting a notice at IOA Bhavan, including the elevator, that said unauthorized persons are not allowed. The EC had claimed that the CEO's appointment was not vetted. Executive assistant was considered an outsider too. Payments were blocked. Salaries not released.
However, things started to change when new sports minister Mansukh Manadviya took charge last year. He became the first sports minister to visit the IOA Bhavan after taking charge. He continued his effort. A new secretary joined the ministry this year. Top SAI officials were out. The minister had kept patient even when the two factions fought and there was pressure on him to bring them all together. Technically, the sports minister cannot interfere with the functioning of IOA (third party interference). With the International Olympic Committee insisting that a strong unified IOA needed for a successful 2036 Olympic bid, truce seemed inevitable.
Powers of the CEO
The EC had objected to the CEO's salary, but there were other points that the EC was not comfortable with at that time – CEO’s sweeping power once he assumes office. The CEO can even take care of the finances of the IOA. Earlier, in his absence the cheques had to be signed by the IOA president and the treasurer. And because of the fight between the factions a number of vendors including the ones managing their websites and emails were not paid because the president and treasurer were never on one page.
The constitution gives the CEO authority to operate bank accounts including signing of cheques. “Accounts shall be maintained in such Scheduled or Nationalized Bank or Banks, as may be approved by the Executive Council in the name of the Association and shall be operated by the CEO in coordination and consultation with the President and Treasurer. In the absence of the availability of CEO for any reason, the account shall be jointly operated by the Treasurer and the President,” says constitution.
What made EC members uncomfortable was not just his financial powers but also administrative.
What the constitution says about CEO
The IOA finally has an official spokesperson. According to the IOA constitution, Iyer shall “Act as the IOA’s spokesperson”. He along with the president will be responsible for “carrying on all correspondence in the name of the Association (save as otherwise directed by the President)”.
The CEO shall be in charge of day-to-day administration of the IOA. He shall “transact all office business in accordance with the decisions of the President, IOA, General Assembly and Executive Council.” He along with the president will have sweeping powers even call for EC and general body meeting.
The CEO will also manage all staff functions and can determine the size and compensation of, hire and terminate the professional staff in accordance with the compensation policy laid down by the Executive Council.”
The CEO also will be responsible for resource generation and utilization and will “manage key government relationships and coordinate government relations of the IOA, together with the IOA President”. He will also prepare a business plan, the annual and quadrennial reports, and submit a quadrennial and annual budgets to the Executive Council.
What seems even more critical is that he shall be responsible for “calling meetings of the IOA Annual General/Special General Assembly/Executive Council or other meetings, as per rules and to implement their decisions”. He shall also prepare and submit, "together with the President, at the Annual General meetings of the Association the Annual Report of the Executive Council. He shall convene meetings of the Association under the directive of the President".
The Future
With two major events India are planning to bid -- the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics -- it needs to be seen how the IOA functions. The EC members must now be calm too as they know removing a CEO after appointment is not even part of the constitution. Even if they think the IOA constitution might change after the National Sports Governance Bill becomes an Act, it might still be difficult to navigate through the IOC. The provision in the Bill says, "a Secretary General of the concerned National Sports Body shall be the head of administration who shall be responsible for carrying out all decisions of the Executive Committee and the General Body... Provided that where the International Charters and Statutes provide for a full-time head of administration, by whatever name called, there shall not be an elected post of the head of administration".
But again, in Indian sports administration anything is possible.
