IOA seeks direction from IOC on joint meeting

The Indian Olympic Association has sought directions from its world parent body on how to resolve the country's ban from the Olympic movement after a crucial joint meeting was postponed for the second time in two months due to the stand-off between the IOA and the government.
A day after the joint meeting scheduled to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland on April 15 and 16 was postponed, IOA acting chief V K Malhotra wrote a letter to IOC accusing the Sports Ministry of acting against finding a way to the country's return to the Olympic movement.
He said in the letter that the action of the Sports Ministry of appointing a committee to re-draft the controversial Sports Code negated the very purpose of having a joint meeting of the IOC, IOA and the government.

"We appreciate your concern for an early solution to the problem but we are rather constrained to say that the Ministry of Sports, Government of India is bent on destroying autonomy of the IOA and the National Sports Federations. The same is not acceptable to us," Malhotra wrote in the letter addressed to IOC chief Jacques Rogge.
"While we endorsed your move for a dialogue involving the government, it has gone ahead and constituted a committee to re-draft the controversial sports bill, which is in total breach of the Olympic Charter," Malhotra further wrote.
He claimed that the government was trying to give a new colour to the Sports Code that was the cause of IOA's ban.

"You will recapitulate that it is because of government guidelines (sports code) that IOC suspended the IOA and now the whole exercise is being repeated by the government in form of a sports bill, trying to give it a colour of a new legislation," he said.