New Delhi: In a significant development , Indian Olympic Association (IOA) today reconstituted its Ethics Commission and Court of Arbitration by inducted more members to make them more broad based.
IOA Acting President Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra said here that reconstitution of these bodies has been done as per the decision taken at the Annual General Body (AGM). Ethics Committee will now have five members and Court of Arbitration will consist of eleven members.
Prof Malhotra said a misleading campaign was launched that IOA was against the ethics committee and the Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS). The reconstitution of these committees prove that “We have nothing to hide and we are true to our promise and pledge to have transparent IOA”.
“The reconstitution of these committees with a full approval of the General House of the IOA is a befitting reply to those who want to encroach the autonomy of the sports federation” he said.
“IOA fully adheres to the Olympic Charter and follows the guidelines of the International Olympic Committee(IOC) and at no stage we ignored IOC’s views or suggestions regarding Ethics committee as has been made out to be by certain vested interests who want to destablise the IOA” Prof Malhotra asserted.
Before the reconstitution, Ethics committee had three members and Court of Arbitration was comprised of eight members. All those members have been retained.
Prof Malhotra said all the members of these two bodies are retired judges of supreme court and the high courts. Supreme court Judge (Retd) Arun Kumar and High Court Judge (Retd) S.K. Mahajan will be the two new members of the ethics committee. The three new members of Court of Arbitration are: Supreme court Judge (Retd) H.S. Bedi, High Court Judges (Retd) S.K. Agrawal and Manju Goel.
Following is the full constituted Ethics Committee:
Justice (Retd) Umesh Banerjee, Justice (Retd) Arun Kumar, Justice (Retd) R.L. Khurana, Justice (Retd) MSA Siddiqui, Justice (Retd) S.K. Mahajan.
Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS):
A.R. Lakshmanan, Justice (Retd) H.S. Bedi, Justice (Retd) M.R. Culla, Justice (Retd) R.S. Sodhi, Justice (Retd) BA Khan, Justice (Retd) Mrs Usha Mehra, Justice (Retd) J.K. Mehra, Justice (Retd) Lokeshwar Prasad, Justice (Retd) S.N. Sapra, Justice (Retd) S.K. Agarwal, Justice (Retd) Manju Goel.
Prof Malhotra said that the rules and regulations of Ethics Committee and ICAS will be framed shortly. All the disputes relating to the sports federation affiliated to the IOA will be decided by the ICAS henceforth.
The office of the IOA will facilitate co ordination between these bodies.