Athlete Welfare One Of Key Focuses At IOA's 1st Executive Council Meeting

The Indian Olympic Association's office bearers -- President PT Usha, Treasurer Sahdev Yadav, Sr. Vice President Ajay H Patel, Vice Presidents Gagan Narang, Raj Laxmi Singh Deo, Joint Secretaries Kalyan Chaubey, Alaknanda Ashok, Chair and Vice chair of Athletes commission MC Mary Kom and Sharath Kamal along with the Members of the Executive Committee which comprised of Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Lt. Gen Harpal Singh, Amitabh Sharma, Rohit Rajpal, Yogeshwar Dutt and Dola Banerjee met during the first Executive council meeting and adopted some key resolutions with the focus firmly on improving Governance structure, fiscal prudence and athlete welfare. 

The Hon'ble President Smt Dr. PT Usha welcomed the members of the newly formed EC of IOA. She addressed the house with a congratulatory note dedicated to all the EC members and IOA Staff to start the new journey. The Hon'ble President expressed her sincere felt gratitude to all the National Sports Federations and Athlete Commission. The Hon'ble President also acknowledged the support of the International Olympic Committee, Olympic Council of Asia, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and former Supreme Court Judge Hon'ble Shri L Nageswara Rao.

Currently there are over 200 plus legal cases against the IOA. To deal with them the EC has decided to create an in house Legal Team. Which will work to dispose off and deal with these legal cases.

Decision was taken on re-hiring of the current auditor M/S Dinesh Mehta & Co for financial year 2022-23, also employing a new auditor for internal forensic audit to get things right from the beginning.

A letter will also be sent to all NSFs (National Sports Federations) asking them to settle accounts with IOA by March 2023. 

The office bearers are keen on setting up a smooth system of operations with the national sports federations. A meeting between IOA and NSFs will be organised shortly, proposals  and suggestions will be heard from the NSFs. 

The process of hiring a CEO has been set in motion. A CEO will be hired as per constitution of IOA by forming a commission which will select and also advertise for the same. 

As per the order and guidelines of Hon. Supreme Court, Jt Secretary, IOA Mr. Kalyan Chaubey will discharge the duties of CEO till the new appointment.

The EC agreed to making a stable system for getting sponsorship deals for IOA in the future. 

"We will be creating an organized and transparent system for attracting sponsorship and marketing deals. Joint Secretary Kalyan Chaubey" said  The house agreed not to hand exclusive rights to any company for marketing and sponsorship, instead exploring sponsorships and CSR funding on Games to Games basis.

The renewal of FCRA registration will be initiated for getting the foreign remittance. 

The Committee also decided Olympic and Non Olympic NSF's will be requested to submit proposals of athletes across different sports. Support will be given to them keeping in mind the long term development of athletes, concentrating on the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games. 

A system should be created for managing and getting maximum benefit from different programs under the IOC banner which can be explored by the Athletes Commission in cohesion with the EC.