BANGALORE: Even as top IOA officials expressed apprehension on Monday that attempts by the Union sports ministry to "control" sports bodies will see India being banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ministry officials said the government will fully respect the Olympic charter.
"There are increased attempts from the sports ministry to control the sports bodies and these are against the Olympic charter. I'm afraid that we may go the Kuwait way and if that happens even the Commonwealth Games will be in trouble," a top IOA official told TOI.
Meanwhile, sports ministry officials were quick to allay the apprehensions and clarified that the ministry fully respects the Olympic charter. "We are absolutely sure that we won't go the Kuwait way as we are only promoting the application of the charter," a key ministry official said.
"We are not saying that all the federations are rogue. There are a number of federations that are doing a good job. Otherwise how will we continue to support them? The problem is only with those federations which are being run in an ad-hoc way," he said.
The heightened activity in the IOA circles arises from a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Delhi High Court by advocate Rahul Mehra, set to come up for hearing on Wednesday, which demands strict implementation on the tenure of the office bearers of the sports bodies.
"The IOC charter clearly says that the maximum tenure of the IOC president is 12 years, including one term of eight years and one final extension of four years. For the members it is a maximum of two terms. Besides, there is a retirement age of 70," the ministry official said making it clear that the sports federations have to be accountable.
"The NSFs are discharging a public duty and hence should be accountable. If they are saying that as per their constitutions the office bearers can continue for any number of years in office, then the ministry cannot accept that," he said.
"We will recognise only those federations which are run in the proper way. There should be proper elections through secret ballot and the entire process should be monitored by an independent observer," the official said.
"We want our federations to follow the best international practices and the Olympic charter, the mother document for all sporting bodies, is clear on the elections and tenure of office bearers," he said.
Recently, the IOA had informed the sports ministry that the autonomy of the IOA is supreme and would like to desist from receiving any further financial support from the government.
Meanwhile, the IOC informed TOI that the IOC has not been approached on this matter. "This is an issue between the Indian government and the IOA."
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