From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court on Tuesday appointed Olympians Abhinav Bindra, Anju Bobby George and Bombayla Devi Saishram to take over the running of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)and hold its fresh elections within four months.
They will be assisting a 3-member administration committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge, an election commissioner and a government bureaucrat. The International Olympic Committee had advised the IOA to fast-track its overdue elections last December or risk suspension.
The Government has already stepped in to negotiate with FIFA, a Zurich-based international body of football, a day after it suspended the All India Football Federtion and disallowed it from holding a women’s football championship.
The High Court issued the orders against the IOA becasue of its “persistent recalcitrance” to comply with the National Sports Code.
It said posts such as lifetime president in the IOA were against the national code, and it wanted senior officials to be limited to three terms in office.
The court also wanted to see women appointed to senior positions and more equality across the board, adding: “Sports administration is not a male preserve.”
