More trouble in sight for the sports czar...the follow-up will see lot of action in sports' bodies

Sack Kalmadi as boss, sports ministry tells IOA
Apr 26, 2011, 02.33am IST TNN[ Vishwa Mohan & Mahendra Kumar Singh ]

NEW DELHI: The government moved swiftly to distance itself from arrested Commonwealth Games chief organizer Suresh Kalmadi by writing to the Indian Olympic Association seeking the Pune MP's removal as the sporting body's president.

The sports ministry's letter to IOA is intended to convey that the government is keen to initiate a clean up of sporting federations while cauterizing Kalmadi's tainted legacy. The fallen sporting czar's arrest could provide the ministry the leverage to break the resistance of sports federations, many headed by politicians.

Kalmadi has ruled the roast in IOA with the help of an entrenched patronage system that encourages secretive and feudal functioning. Attempts to fix time-barred tenures has been challenged in courts and the Congress MP got a pliant International Olympic Committee to back his stand.

United by a desire to preserve their pastures, federation heads argued that time-barred tenures interfered with their autonomy despite most of them receiving substantial government grants. The autonomy argument is seen as nothing but a measure to keep current incumbents in power.

The sports ministry is also seeking legal advice from Attorney General Goolam Vahanavati so that it can act on its own in case IOA fails to do so given Kalmadi's clout in the multi-member body that represents India in the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

With the Congress also suspending the MP, the sports ministry is trying to ensure it has all legal ends tied up in its bid to get Kalmadi out of the IOA.

Sports and youth affairs minister Ajay Maken said: "We will be writing to the Attorney General seeking legal advice. The government can also take action on its own if the IOA fails to take any action against him. If required, we will take action on our own."

In its letter to the secretary general of IOA Randhir Singh – a Kalmadi crony -- the sports ministry said: "In keeping with and maintaining the fair image of sports in India, the government would like the IOA to consider appointing an alternate president in place of the incumbent (Kalmadi) for managing the affairs of the IOA."

If IOA heeds to the ministry's request, the move will automatically see elevation of the Association's senior vice president and BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra as president till the body elects somebody else among its members.

Kalmadi was arrested by CBI for alleged irregularities in awarding contract for Timing-Scoring-Result (TSR) System for the Commonwealth Games to a Swiss company. His close aides -- former OC secretary general Lalit Bhanot and former director-general V K Verma -- were arrested in February.

Action against more persons is expected soon as the sports ministry had last week asked the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe the allegations relating to the CWG Organizing Committee, as pointed out by the Shunglu Committee in its report. The cabinet secretariat had on April 18 referred the Committee's report, pertaining to the OC, to the ministry for appropriate action.

Maken said: "We referred the matter to the CBI to take action against those found guilty by the Shunglu committee. Hopefully, CBI will take action against all those people."

Besides referring the Shunglu committee report to the sports ministry, the cabinet secretariat had also passed on concerned reports to the home and urban development ministries. Both these ministries have been examining the reports which dealt with allegations in carrying out many CWG related infrastructure projects in Delhi.