IOC sets deadline for IOA to clean house

Hardening its stand against the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has asked the Indian body to sack ‘charge-framed’ officials through constitutional amendments by 31 October and conduct fresh elections by 15 December to return to the Olympic fold.

Giving its ‘conclusions and decisions’ on the IOA’s executive general meeting held here last month, the IOC said the key provision of barring individuals, against whom charges have been framed in court, was ignored by the Indian body.

‘The IOC is well aware of the difference in the Indian legal system between charge-sheeted persons and charge-framed persons and has never requested that the clause initially proposed applies for charge-sheeted persons. Therefore it is reiterated that the initial wording is aimed to apply for anyone charge-framed by a court in India,’ the IOC Director General Christophe de Kepper said in a letter to the IOA.

‘...the IOC does fully respect the principle that ‘until proven guilty, one is innocent’. However, what is at stake is the reputation of the Olympic movement which must not be tarnished,’ it added.

The IOC then goes on to urge the IOA to act accordingly, setting deadlines for the requisite constitutional changes and the fresh elections.

‘Upon completion of the whole process...the IOC Executive Board would be in a position to consider lifting the suspension on the IOA,’ the IOC said.