Government nudges Indian Olympic Association again

The sports ministry has urged the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to take the opportunity of its executive committee and special general assembly meetings on Tuesday to deliberate on the government guidelines that it has opposed so far.

In a letter to the IOA, the ministry has urged it to consider the guidelines that limits the tenure of officials of sports bodies as sports lies in the public domain and sports governance is a public function that involves national interest.

In an appeal, a copy of which has been sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the ministry has also taken the opportunity to remind it of certain decisions taken during an IOC seminar two years ago that was attended by 170 representatives of national bodies and international federations, and endorsed the next year at the XIII Olympic Congress.

“The consensus that emerged at both the forums was that good governance was essential if sports movement was to justify and claim autonomy. It was resolved that all members of the Olympic Movement should adopt, as their minimum standards, the Basic Universal Principles of Good Governance of the Olympic and Sports Movement, as proposed by the IOC,” the letter read.

The letter then pointed out that the important tenets for good governance are transparency, procedural regulations, limited duration of office terms and cooperation with the government to preserve autonomy.

The ministry also reminded the IOA of the essentiality of athletes’ involvement in decision making with full voting rights; and establishment of grievance mechanism for athletes.

“But unfortunately, the majority is yet to fully implement these basic principles of good governance,” it says.

However, the IOA is expected to take a strong stance against the government guidelines with the backing of member units.