MY WORST fears have come true. In a clear case of the ‘Sovereign Republic of Suresh Kalmadi’ (SRSK) versus the Union of India, SRSK is busy cocking a snook at the government of India. While every attempt has been made to paper over all the travails and shortcomings of the Commonwealth Games organising committee despite two major run ins; first with Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell and then with OC CEO Mike Hopoper, Kalmadi has managed to survive.
While the government has tried its level best to circumvent all financial powers and authority from Kalmadi and Co by installing its people in the OC, the ludicrous amount of money being ploughed into the Games has become a bit of an elephant and camel, it cannot be hidden under the carpet anymore. At a subterranean level, this internecine war has been fought relentlessly after CAG first outed the size and scale of the debacle. By not being able to meet deadlines, the OC is not just embarrassing itself, but the nation. Anyhow promises have been made, commitments given and an uneasy truce brokered between the warring chieftains. But now news comes that a legal battle is being fought in the Delhi High Court over financial transparency vis a vis the 2010 Games.
It is a shocking tale of woe. The Games Organising Committee needs to make its accounts public. It is as simple as that. After all it is taxpayers money that is being used to build out the stadia and other infrastructure. The SRSK refuses to play ball. He is keen to punch above his weight. The OC reckons that it is an independent body and therefore does not need to keep the Union government informed of where it is spending these bucks. The verdict has been reserved by the Delhi High Court after hearing both sides. Imagine, the Kalmadi led OC has filed a case against the Union government saying that it is not a public body and can keep its accounts private. Are we living in a banana Republic? How can Kalmadi and Co refuse to give us the financial details?
In a Mail Today hard hitting front page scoop, it has been revealed that the OC writ petition before the Delhi High Court has snubbed the Centre claiming there was no direct or indirect control over it by the government and there was no funding by it to manage its day-to-day affairs or to run its office. The Centre, on the other hand, alleged that the claims had no basis as the CGOC had received substantial funds from it and owed its birth to it. The committee had admitted in its 2005-06 audit report that it had received Rs 525.8 million of its receipts of Rs 527.2 million from government sources, it pointed out.
I am reproducing this important story from the Delhi based paper for greater and wider dispersal:
Responding to the contention that the government was merely acting like a financier to the committee, the Centre said it could not be treated as a lender because it had provided a loan of Rs 272.72 crore (Rs 2,727.2 million) without any security to an organisation without any assets. The government was committed to provide Rs 767 crore but the committee itself had later requested for around Rs 1,780 crore, it said.
In this year’s Budget, the government sanctioned an enhanced provision of Rs 1,820 crore for the 2010 Games. The government also pointed out that though it had no share in profits, it had to bear the loss if the committee failed to generate enough revenue from the 2010 Games. “In this scenario, it is the moral as well as the statutory duty of the petitioner (the CGOC) to use public funds judiciously and be open for scrutiny at all times,” the Centre said in its affidavit before the Delhi High Court.
Refuting the charge that it was encroaching upon the role and responsibility of the committee, the government said it only intended to ensure accountability of the committee to the public exchequer. The Centre also contested the claim of the committee that it was not under the control of the government or a public authority accountable to answer queries under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. It pointed out that it was a signatory to the November 13, 2003, host city contract with the Commonwealth Games Federation and the birth of the committee arose out of that contract. After execution of the contract, the chairman and composition of the committee was decided by the government’s core Group of Ministers (GoM) in its meeting on January 29, 2005. The executive board of the committee had four government officials as members and two as special invitees.
On the claim of the CGOC that it would generate funds on its own, the Centre pointed out that the Delhi government, the Sports Authority of India, the DDA, etc, would provide infrastructure without any user charges for the Games, but that will generate revenue for the committee. Besides, the staff of the committee is paid from its account which is entirely funded by the government, the Centre said.
The controversy erupted after a person filed an RTI application before the Sports Ministry seeking to know the details of payments made to actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Saif Ali Khan among others for taking them to the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony in Melbourne in 2006.
The CGOC refused a request by the ministry to share details and approached the High Court after the law ministry said in 2007 that it was a public authority. The Central Information Commission ( CIC) had in November 2006 held that the Indian Olympic Association was a public authority and had directed it to share with the RTI applicant the particulars of expenses incurred by it on tours in connection with the Commonwealth Games. An appeal by the IOA against the CIC order had been clubbed with the committee’s petition before the High Court and was heard together.
The Sports Ministry, which had been neutral before the CIC, had supported the RTI applicant before the High Court. It gave details of funds sanctioned by it to the IOA and maintained that it was a public authority and was bound to share information under the RTI law.
The Delhi High Court, which clubbed both the matters in January this year, has reserved its verdicts on both the petitions raising the similar questions of law to be decided. Until the pronouncement of the verdict, the operation of the November 2007 government order would remain suspended as the court had stayed it while issuing notice to the government on the committee’s petition in February 2008.
In Parliament only the other day, the minister of state for sports P P Patil has stated categorically that the 2010 Commonwealth games will cost Rs 105.55 billion. Aren’t we as Indians eligible to know how the OC is spending this money. If the Jawahar Lal Nehru staidum alone is costing Rs 9.62 billion, the Indira Gandhi Stadium is costing Rs 6.69 billion while the Games Village an additional Rs 8.28 billion; then we certainly need to get into the innards of the financials to know what exactly is going on at the OC. Patil also revealed in Parliament that the OC will generate revenues of Rs 17.08 billion from broadcasting rights, sponsorships, ticketing et al. The deficit is an astronomical Rs 88.42 billion.
Something is seriously amiss. The nature of the beast is such that he doesn’t want this financial detail to come out in the open. The surmise is clear – it is hiding something. That is simply unacceptable in a democracy. This is a travesty.
