NEW DELHI: The Indian Olympic Association’s executive committee has ratified the decision to shift the venue of the December 14 annual general meeting from Chennai to the capital.
The decision was taken during the EC meeting held here Thursday in the presence of IOA president N Ramachandran.
A release, signed jointly by Ramachandran and IOA secretary-general Rajeev Mehta, said “at the request of several members, they (president and the secretary-general) have agreed to hold the elective AGM at the IOA Bhawan in New Delhi on December 14”.
The AGM will elect the new office-bearers of the IOA, including the president and secretary general.
The incumbent president Ramachandran, who is 69 now, told The Hindu he will take a decision on contesting the elections soon.
However, many senior members EC told the daily the chances of him coming back to power were feeble as the numbers were stacked against him.
Dhanraj Choudhary, former secretary of the Table Tennis Federation of India and a senior EC member, summed up the veteran sports administrator’s first year: “N. Ramachandran brought sponsorship to IOA, gave money to national federations and State Olympic associations, but unfortunately he couldn’t take people along with him.”
In all, 21 EC members and 13 associate members attended the meeting on Thursday.
Lalit Bhanot, whose election as secretary-general in December 2012 was declared null and void by the International Olympic Committee, and FIH boss Narinder Batra, who is planning to contest the president’s post, did not turn up.
“The president and secretary-general appreciated the views of the members of the executive council at their meeting held on 7th November and since most of the issues were taken up for discussion at the meeting on 9th November, the minutes have been accepted, however, subject to the amendments made by Anil Khanna, Virendra Nanavati and R K Anand,” the release said.
On whether Batra could contest for the post of president since he is not a current EC member, there was no clarity.
Mehta, however, insisted to The Hindu that IOA would abide by the amended constitution (of 2013) and the letter dated November 8 from the International Olympic Committee for guidelines.
The EC, meanwhile, decided to recommend de-recognition of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation to the general body of the IOA.
It was also decided that the grant to National Sports Federations and state Olympic associations will be initially Rs 700,000 per year for sport promotional activities and if sponsorship increases, this will be increased to Rs 900,000 per year, the release said.
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