Indian Olympic Association To Approve Changes In Constitution In Line With NSGA
The current dispensation headed by sprint legend PT Usha was elected on December 10, 2022 for a four-year term.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is set to approve the changes in its constitution in line with the National Sports Governance Act 2025 at its Special General Body Meeting (SGBM) on Tuesday. The IOA's executive committee, which met here on August 19, had approved the changes made in its earlier constitution. "It will be a mere formality and the SGBM will not take much time to approve the changes. The meeting will be a short one," an official told PTI. It is also learnt that a preliminary draft of the amended constitution of the IOA has already been sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The General House will also discuss on a possible date of the IOA election which is due in December.
The current dispensation headed by sprint legend P T Usha was elected on December 10, 2022 for a four-year term.
Before the election of the new office bearers, the Athletes Commission will have to be re-constituted and Sportspersons of Merit will have to be selected to become voting members of the General House for the office bearers' election.
There are a few tricky issues to be dealt by the IOA in order to align with the NSGA 2025, including age and tenure guidelines, which was notified in January by the government for implementation.
According to existing IOA constitution, no member is eligible for any post of office bearer if he/she has attained the age of 70 on the date of election. But the NSGA allows a person aged between 70 and 75 years to contest elections or seek nominations, if permitted by the International Charters and Statutes.
Also, the IOA constitution says that no member shall hold one or more office bearers' post for more than two consecutive terms. An office bearer shall have to undergo a cooling-off period after two consecutive terms, subsequent to which he/she shall be eligible to hold office for another term.
However, the NSGA allows a person to continuously hold the position of either the president or secretary general or the treasurer for up to three consecutive terms separately, or in combination, without any cooling-off period.
If NSGA 2025 is to be followed, the number of EC members will also have to be reduced to 15, including an IOC member in India. PTI PDS PDS APS APS
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