Chairman of the scandal-ridden Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (OC), Suresh Kalmadi, had been adamant that he would not step down from his post as the OC chairman and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president until he got a letter in this regard from the sports ministry.
After being sacked as OC chairman, Mr Kalmadi told reporters that he would not step down as IOA chief.
Asked whether Mr Kalmadi would also be removed from his IOA post, newly-appointed Union sports minister Ajay Maken said, “We have sought legal opinion from the attorney-general. We are seeking legal opinion whenever and wherever is necessary.”
Mr Maken, who replaced M.S. Gill as the new sports and youth affairs minister after Wednesday’s Cabinet reshuffle, also added: “Both Kalmadi and Bhanot have been asked to hand over charge to retired bureaucrat Jarnail Singh, chief executive officer of the Organising Committee.”
The committee’s tenure had been extended after the October 3 to 14 Games to allow the investigations to complete.
Before the Games began, corruption charges swirled around the London leg of the Queen’s Baton Relay, leading to the sacking of three senior officials in August. Subsequently, anti-corruption watchdogs identified several irregularities in awarding of contracts and identified several Games projects for large-scale corruption.
Some Australian and British suppliers of the October Delhi Games have said they had not been fully paid. Mr Maken said on Monday the government would soon clear all “legitimate” dues.