IOA Asks National Federations to Constitute Athletes Commission in 3 Months

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) The Indian Olympic Association Saturday asked the National Sports Federations to constitute their respective Athletes' Commissions within three months or else face action.

In its annual General Body Meeting here, the IOA also decided to downgrade the NSFs of equestrian and yatching to associate membership without voting rights from being permanent members for allowing individual members to vote in their elections.

They have been asked to hold fresh elections within six months.

Ad hoc committees were also formed for golf and Assam Olympic Association.

"The House gave approval that instructions will be issued to all the NSFs to constitute Athletes Commission within three weeks. We hope all the NSFs will do this. We will take action to those NSFs which do not follow this," IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta told PTI.

"Those NSFs which already have Athletes' Commission need not have fresh elections but those which do not have to conduct elections to form Athletes' Commission," he said.

Regrading the downgrading of some federations, Mehta said, "We have done that on account of voting by individual members in the elections of these NSFs. IOC charter allows voting by members representing federations or state Olympic bodies and not individual members."

In another significant decision, the elections of the Kerala Olympic Association was shifted to New Delhi on the ground of government interference.

Mehta said that state bodies which allowed government interference in their functioning will be banned from taking part in any national event.

"If a state federation allows interference from the state government, they will be banned by the NSFs from sending athletes in national events. We have decided to issue strict instructions in this regard," he added.

The decision was prompted by some state governments having separate sports codes or similar guidelines, which interfered in the autonomy of the state sports federations, like those in Rajasthan and Bihar.

Regarding the faction-ridden Gymnastics Federation of India, the IOA took the decision to hold elections within eight weeks after the High Court accepted the recommendations of the dispute resolution committee of the IOA.

Top tennis administrator Anil Khanna and former president of kabaddi's national federation Janardan Singh Gehlot were declared elected unopposed as a senior vice president and a vice president of the IOA. Both were the lone candidates for each of the posts.

Khanna served as a treasurer in the previous regime headed by N Ramachandran and was also initially a presidential candidate in the polls held in December last but withdrew later to pave the way for Narinder Batra to become the IOA chief.

Gehlot, a former Congress minister in Rajasthan, was president of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) for 28 years before his wife took over the job. He was made the 'Life President' of the AKFI but the Delhi High Court earlier this year quashed the appointment and that of his wife.

He is currently the president of International Kabaddi Federation. He was elected to the post in June for a four-year term.

The IOA had amended its constitution in August to increase the number of senior vice presidents to two from the current one and the number of vice-presidents to nine from the current eight.

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