’Gill authorised to act against IOA, NSFs’

Sports Minister MS Gill is well within his rights to specify a cap on tenures for office bearers of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and National Sports Federations (NSFs), said Rahul Mehra, the advocate whose petition against IOA and NSFs is responsible for Gill’s action last Sunday.

According to Mehra, all NSFs sign an agreement with the ministry accepting the government’s guidelines — what Gill is doing is to implement the existing guidelines that put a ceiling on tenures.

Two days ago, IOA Secretary General Randhir Singh quoted an International Olympics Committee (IOC) letter saying such a move could potentially result in the IOA being derecognised since the IOC charter prohibits government interference in the running of sports bodies. This, Singh said, could have implications for the Commonwealth Games that are to be held in October.

However, the IOC’s own charter specifies these very terms that Gill wants to enforce — restricting the tenure for presidents of sports bodies to a maximum of 12 years; treasurers and secretaries can serve for 2 consecutive terms of 4 years and then be re-elected after a 4 year gap; and no one can hold office after the age of 70.

The Olympic Charter guidelines for the IOC state:

• Clause 3.3 states “any IOC member ceases to be a member at the end of the calendar year during which he reaches the age of 70”
• 19.2.2 states “The duration of the terms of office of the vice presidents and of the ten other members of the IOC executive board is four years. A member may serve for a maximum of two successive terms on the IOC executive board, regardless of the capacity in which he has been elected.”
• 19.2.3 states “In the case of a member having completed two successive terms in office pursuant to rule 19.2.2, he may be elected again as member of the IOC executive board after a minimum period of two years. This does not apply to the election for the office of president, for which there is no waiting period”.
• Clause 20.1 states “The session elects, by secret ballot, a president from among its members for a term of eight years renewable once for four years.”

According to Mehra, “If the Olympic Charter requires the IOC to follow limits in tenure and age restrictions for its president and office bearers, the IOA should follow the international best practices of its parent body. Why should the IOC sanction the IOA for emulating its own standards?”