IOC warns India of disaffiliation
25 Nov 2012 5:10 AM IST
The controversial elections to the Indian Olympic Association seems to be heading for more trouble with International Olympic Committee on Friday threatening to disaffiliate the national sports body if it follows government guidelines in the polls, prompting the IOA acting chief to seek Prime Minister's intervention to resolve the matter.
On a day of dramatic development, IOC and OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) sent a strongly-worded letter to IOA, warning strong action if it did not clarify its stand on the issue by November 30. ‘.. it is our understanding that IOA is unable to confirm that IOA’s elections will be held strictly in accordance with rules of Olympic Charter and IOA's constitution currently in force. On the contrary, it is mentioned that the government regulations shall apply for IOA's elections, thus ignoring the Olympic Charter and IOA's constitution,’ IOC president Jacques Rogge and OCA chief Al Sabah said in a joint letter.
‘Unless you rectify the situation with immediate effect and give a clear and written guarantee to IOC to ensure that elections will be held strictly on the basis of Olympic Charter and IOA's constitution, we inform you that a proposal for suspension of your NOC will be presented to IOC executive board at its next meeting on 4-5 December 2012, based on Rules 27.9 and 59.1.4 of the Olympic Charter,’ the letter stated.
Barely a few hours after the IOC letter was circulated to the media, IOA acting chief VK Malhotra wrote a letter to the PM, asking him to withdraw the Sports Code urgently. ‘I have just received a letter from IOC in which it has threatened to disaffiliate IOA if its elections scheduled to be held here on 5th December are held as per Sports Code of Government of India. Given the gravity of situation, as the fate of thousands of Indian sportspersons is linked with it, I sincerely appeal to you to immediately ask the Sports Ministry to withdraw this Sports Code.
‘Disaffiliation from IOC will seriously impede our progress in sports and demoralise sportspersons. India at this stage can ill-afford such a situation, hence the request you to step in and urgently withdraw this ill conceived Sports Code,’ Malhotra said in the letter to the PM.
Explaining the rationale behind his plea for withdrawing Sports Code, Malhotra, in his letter to the PM, said, ‘You may recall that an IOA delegation led by me had called upon you in June 2011 to apprise about the serious ramifications which will follow if the government keep insisting on passing a National Sports Development Bill. Though the government dropped the Bill but the Sports Code is still in existence and the IOC has made it clear that it will not accept/recognise any election to IOA conducted under this Sports Code.’
The elections scheduled for December 5 has been mired in controversy over which of the two, the government's Sports Code or Olympic Charter, should be followed. Even as the dispute over the procedure for the elections continued, the rival groups went on accusing each other of scuttling the poll process.
On a day of dramatic development, IOC and OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) sent a strongly-worded letter to IOA, warning strong action if it did not clarify its stand on the issue by November 30. ‘.. it is our understanding that IOA is unable to confirm that IOA’s elections will be held strictly in accordance with rules of Olympic Charter and IOA's constitution currently in force. On the contrary, it is mentioned that the government regulations shall apply for IOA's elections, thus ignoring the Olympic Charter and IOA's constitution,’ IOC president Jacques Rogge and OCA chief Al Sabah said in a joint letter.
‘Unless you rectify the situation with immediate effect and give a clear and written guarantee to IOC to ensure that elections will be held strictly on the basis of Olympic Charter and IOA's constitution, we inform you that a proposal for suspension of your NOC will be presented to IOC executive board at its next meeting on 4-5 December 2012, based on Rules 27.9 and 59.1.4 of the Olympic Charter,’ the letter stated.
Barely a few hours after the IOC letter was circulated to the media, IOA acting chief VK Malhotra wrote a letter to the PM, asking him to withdraw the Sports Code urgently. ‘I have just received a letter from IOC in which it has threatened to disaffiliate IOA if its elections scheduled to be held here on 5th December are held as per Sports Code of Government of India. Given the gravity of situation, as the fate of thousands of Indian sportspersons is linked with it, I sincerely appeal to you to immediately ask the Sports Ministry to withdraw this Sports Code.
‘Disaffiliation from IOC will seriously impede our progress in sports and demoralise sportspersons. India at this stage can ill-afford such a situation, hence the request you to step in and urgently withdraw this ill conceived Sports Code,’ Malhotra said in the letter to the PM.
Explaining the rationale behind his plea for withdrawing Sports Code, Malhotra, in his letter to the PM, said, ‘You may recall that an IOA delegation led by me had called upon you in June 2011 to apprise about the serious ramifications which will follow if the government keep insisting on passing a National Sports Development Bill. Though the government dropped the Bill but the Sports Code is still in existence and the IOC has made it clear that it will not accept/recognise any election to IOA conducted under this Sports Code.’
The elections scheduled for December 5 has been mired in controversy over which of the two, the government's Sports Code or Olympic Charter, should be followed. Even as the dispute over the procedure for the elections continued, the rival groups went on accusing each other of scuttling the poll process.
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