The International Olympic Committee has put in a spanner in the works for corruption-tainted officials eyeing a comeback into the Indian Olympic Association fold.
In a revised draft of the constitution sent to the Indian body on Thursday, the world body has said that “such persons” will no longer be eligible to contest the IOA elections.
“To be eligible as an office-bearer or member of the executive council, a member must: be a citizen of India; be in full possession of his/her civil rights; not face charges framed against him/her by any court in India, in respect of a criminal or a corruption offence which would be punishable with imprisonment if he/she was convicted; not have been convicted of any criminal or corruption offence,” a part of the 43-page draft revised constitution states.
This provision will effectively mean that officials like Suresh Kalmadi, Lalit Bhanot and V.K. Verma, chargesheeted in connection with the 2010 Commonwealth Games scams, will not be able to contest IOA elections.
The draft added that if charges were framed against members of the IOA general council, executive council, committees or commissions, in a criminal or corruption case, the member would be provisionally suspended from the IOA and should be automatically expelled in of a conviction.
The IOC has laid down provisions on the election process of the IOA, voting rights of the National Sports Federations and state Olympic bodies in the revised draft. Interestingly though, the world body has left it to the discretion of the IOA on whether to include age and tenure restrictions in the constitution, which could well have it on collision course with the Sports Code being proposed by the government of India.
The revised draft of the IOA constitution was sent along with a letter by Jerome Poivey, IOC head of institutional relations and governance NOC relations department.