C'Wealth Games in jeopardy if tenure is capped: Kalmadi

NEW DELHI: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has said that the sports ministry’s cap on the tenure of those at the helm of sports bodies could jeopardise the Commonwealth Games.

The IOA, headed by Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, contended that a restriction on the tenure of its office-bearers would amount to “interference in the internal functioning” of a National Olympic Committee (NOC) and could lead to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) handing out sanction, suspension or withdrawal of recognition notices to the NOC.

Sports minister M S Gill responded to criticism levelled against him by Mr Kalmadi, judo federation chief Jagdish Tytler and others by contending that the sports federation bosses wanted to cling to their posts. He asserted that the new regulations would have no impact on the Games to be held later this year.

The sports ministry has restricted the tenure of national sports federation ( NSF) presidents and other office bearers, including the IOA’s, to 12 years “with or without break”. For the secretary and the treasurer of the bodies, it said the tenure should not exceed two successive tenures of four years each and re-election after a four year break. It also stipulated a retirement age of 70 for all members and office-bearers. Among those who stand to lose their posts due to the order include Mr Kalmadi, opposition leader of Delhi assembly V K Malhotra (archery), Akali Dal MP and former Union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (cycling), Mr V K Verma (badminton), Congress MP and former Union minister Satish K Sharma (aero club) and businessman B S Adityan (volleyball).
Several of the sports federation chiefs have been occupying the posts for extended periods of time. Mr Kalmadi has been at IOA’s helm since 1996, Mr Malhotra for more than three decades, Mr Dhindsa for 13 years, Mr Verma and Mr Adityan for 12 years each and Mr Sharma for 24 years.

Not surprisingly, the sports federations are fighting back. Armed with letters of support from the IOC and the Olympic Council of Asia, IOC secretary-general Randhir Singh said the issue of limiting tenure and fixing age limits for office-bearers should not be “imposed by the government or (through) external pressure” but should be decided by NOCs themselves. “Going ahead with the regulation would invite sanction, which may lead to a complete ban on India,” he said. He added that if the IOC suspended India, all international federations would follow suit and Indian athletes would be “the real victims”. He added: “Anything can happen. It may even jeopardise the Commonwealth Games even though I don’t want to be too negative. I hope we would reach a solution soon, for we want to work in tandem with the ministry.”

Mr Gill, for his part, said: “I guess the current protest is frankly because my friends (in federations) want unlimited tenures which don’t exist even in IOC and most major sports federations in the world”. He said the regulation had the backing of all political parties and was a softer version of the original 1975 guideline. He clarified that the regulation didn’t mean NSF office-bearers affected by the regulation would have to vacate their posts immediately. “The regulation will apply from future elections, when they occur,” he said adding that these were mainly scheduled in 2012, 2013 and 2014.” He also defended his decision saying that the ministry had studied IOC regulations has stuck with what the IOC itself had done.