Supreme Court Approves Timeline For Polls To IOA Executive Council

The Supreme Court on Monday approved the timeline for amendment of the draft constitution of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and its elections, as agreed in the meeting with the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland on September 27. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said former apex court judge LN Rao will be at liberty to take an "untrammelled holistic perspective" of the matter while drafting the amendments to the IOA constitution subject to the caveat that it is necessary to ensure the draft amendment has the approval and concurrence of the IOC so as to obviate any complication in the future.

It said, "Having regard to the conclusion which have been arrived at in the course of the meeting at Lausanne, suggested timeline have been indicated in the note submitted by the union government for completing the dual process of amending the constitution of IOA and completing the holding of the election of the IOA".

The bench noted, as per the suggested timeline, the whole process has to be completed prior to the IOC meeting in December, 2022.

It also noted the minutes of the September 27 meeting indicates that the first step is amendment of the IOA constitution so as to introduce governance reforms.   "Both IOC and OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) have agreed to work with the former judge appointed by this court on the draft revised constitution. Once the constitution is finalised, it is to be formally adopted by the general assembly of the IOA," the bench said. It added the second step would be conducting the IOA election in accordance with the newly approved constitution under the supervision of the former judge of the apex court.   The top court said a copy of the order will be placed before Justice LN Rao and "we would request him to supervise the entire process vide the previous order and we will appreciate if the suggestive timelines are duly facilitated".   The bench directed: "Once the new constitution has been duly adopted and concurred with by IOC, there shall be a direction to this effect that the new constitution shall be adopted by the IOA general body under the mandatory direction of this court".   It posted the matter for further hearing after Diwali vacation.

According to the note submitted by the Centre to the court, Justice Rao will hold the first meeting on October 14 and the draft constitution preparation work will be held between October 14 and November 7.

It says on October 20, a notice for a special AGM of the IOA for adoption of the new constitution will be issued as 15 days' clear notice is needed for the special Annual General Meeting.

On November 7, finalisation of the draft constitution will take place and it will be sent to a special AGM for adoption and the IOC for concurrence.

The timeline says on November 10, the draft constitution will be adopted by the general body of the IOA.

On November 14, the election process for IOA's executive council will start and be completed by December 3 after declaration of the results.

The International Olympic Committee executive board meeting is scheduled for December 5, which is also the deadline fixed by the IOC to form the IOA executive council.

On September 22, in a bid to ensure a fair and development-oriented approach for the future of the Olympics in India, the top court had appointed Justice (retd) Rao for amending the IOA constitution and preparing its electoral college.

The top court had asked Justice Rao to prepare a road map for amending the constitution and holding elections by December, 2022.

It had also given permission to Rajeev Mehta, who is currently the secretary general of the IOA, and Adille Sumariwalla, its vice president, to participate in the September 27 meeting with the IOC.

The IOC had on September 8 issued a final warning to IOA to "resolve its governance issues" and hold elections by December, failing which the world sports body will ban India.

The executive board of the IOC, which met in Lausanne, had also decided not to recognise any "acting/interim president" after Narinder Batra's ouster as Indian Olympic Association chief and said it will deal with secretary general Rajeev Mehta as the main point of contact.

The IOC had also earlier threatened to suspend the IOA if it failed to conduct its election at the earliest.

The IOA elections were due in December last year but could not be held due to amendments in the poll process.

Last December, the IOA formed a six-member committee to look at the amendments to be made to its constitution before holding elections to align it with the National Sports Code.

In May this year, Batra was removed as IOA chief after the Delhi High Court struck down the post of 'life member' in Hockey India through which he had contested and won the apex body elections in 2017.

Batra later officially resigned as IOA President. After he was removed by the high court, Batra issued a statement, announcing his decision not to contest the IOA elections