In what was a path-breaking presentation before the officials of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at Lausanne on June 18, the Union Sports Ministry has insisted that its revised guidelines issued last May were not intrusive and were only aimed at ensuring compliance with the principles recognised by the IOC and endorsed by the Olympic Congress.
An 81-page dossier that was part of about 750 pages of documents presented to the IOC in Lausanne was released by the ministry on Friday.The Ministry, led by its Joint Secretary, Injeti Srinivas,, argued that the tenure guidelines were brought in ‘in deference to the binding observations made by the High Court of Delhi' and that the guidelines would remain as long as the matter was in court.
It is learnt that the Government was contemplating legislation to provide more teeth to regulations in case the High Court upheld the guidelines in an ongoing public interest litigation. The hearing is scheduled to resume on August 18.
The ministry dossier listed the measures taken by the Government over the years, assessed the performance of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the National Sports Federations (NSFs), clamouring against the ‘erosion' of their autonomy, drew examples extensively from laws and regulations in force in other democratic countries, cited relevant portions of the Olympic Charter and pointed out the stand taken by the Olympic Congress in 2009.
The Copenhagen resolution also stated that all members of the Olympic Movement should ensure that their legal status was wholly compliant with the laws of the land.
It further stated that the constituents of the Olympic Movement should hold general meetings and democratic elections ‘for specified terms of office.' The ministry pointed out to the IOC that the ‘continued insistence of IOA/NSFs on autonomy without supervision in this context is antithetical to the universally accepted Principles of Good Governance.
