The reconstituted governing body of the Sports Authority of India met here on Thursday and took some key decisions under the chairmanship of minister of state for youth affairs and sports Jitendra Singh.
The meeting gave the go-ahead to a sub-committee, to be headed by a joint secretary in the ministry, which will recommend the eligibility criteria and methods of recruitment of coaches.
SAI director general Jiji Thompson, who was also present, has been directed to prepare a voluntary retirement scheme for all employees, including coaches. Thompson has also been asked to employ a scheme for optimum utilisation of stadia and use it for non-sporting purposes to generate revenue during the lean season.
The governing body gave in-principle approval to seek the services of a consulting organisation to restructure SAI into a professional organisation.
Besides the sports minister and SAI DG, sports secretary P.K. Deb and sportspersons Zafar Iqbal, Baichung Bhutia, Karnam Malleshwari and Ashwini Nachappa among others are part of the governing body.
The meeting also approved an energy audits for stadia and other buildings where power consumption is very high. Thomson will now be able to seek advise from a consultative committee consisting of experts from the field of sports on the policy initiatives to be undertaken in SAI.
Other recommendations at the meeting included carrying out the accounting and financial reforms in a time-bound manner, computerisation of the entire set-up besides supporting the Army in raising three new Boys Sports Companies in Lansdowne, Secunderabad and Nasik.