New Delhi: In a bid to ensure absolute clarity on the constitutional amendments carried out by the IOA to bar charged-framed officials, the International Olympic Committee Friday issued a guideline on how to implement the clause to avoid "unnecessary speculation or doubtful interpretation".
In a letter to the Indian Olympic Association, the IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper has asked the IOA to properly ratify all the interpretations in their next meeting failing which the governing body reserved the right to impose necessary sanctions.
The letter stated a list of clause that the IOC expects the Indian body to implement. It says: "The member (charge-sheeted person) concerned must resign immediately (and, if not, will be provisionally suspended) and will not be eligible to run for election. This mechanism must be implemented automatically and will be valid for as long as the charges are framed by the Court, as mentioned in this clause.
"The fact that 'the case will then be referred to the IOA Ethics Commission for further guidance' (i) does not call into question the automatic mechanism mentioned before; and (ii) does not give any authority to the IOA Ethics Commission to recommend to clear or reinstate a member if such member is still faced with charges framed by the Court, as mentioned in this clause," it further stated.
De Kepper also said that the IOA Ethics Commission may recommend further sanctions against the member concerned but it cannot reduce, soften or dilute the automatic sanctions mentioned in this clause for as long as the charges are framed by the court.The letter made it clear that if the clause is interpreted or implemented differently, the IOC "reserves the right to take the necessary measures and/or sanctions".
"The IOC will now conditionally approve the new IOA Constitution as amended on 8 December 2013, subject to ratification of the interpretation of the clause mentioned above by the next IOA General Assembly. "As per the process established in May 2013, the elections of the IOA must now take place as soon as possible.
The election process will be conducted directly by the election commission in a free, fair and transparent manner, based on the newly revised Constitution of the IOA and the Olympic Charter, and will be placed under the supervision of the IOC," De Kepper wrote in the letter.
He said once the clause is successfully implemented, the IOC Executive Board will be in a position to lift the suspension on India's Olympic movement. "If the whole process is completed successfully before the IOC Executive Board meeting in Sochi (on 2 and 3 February 2014) and the suspension is then lifted, any qualified Indian athlete will be allowed to take part in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games with the reinstated IOA, as normal.
"If not, the IOC Executive Board has already taken protective measures for any Indian athlete qualified for the Sochi Games as follows: (Reference to the Olympic Charter: Rule 59.1.4.a)," he stated. The letter also issued guidelines in case Indian athletes are not able to participate in the Winter Olympics, if the country still remained suspended at the time of the Sochi Games.
"If the NOC of India is still suspended by the IOC at the time of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, and in order to ensure the participation of any qualified Indian athletes, the IOC Executive Board has decided to: Grant exceptional authorisation for the participation, on an individual basis, of any Indian athlete who is qualified for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi."
It, however, said that the measures would be enforced only if the NOC of India was still suspended at the time of the Sochi Games. Randhir Singh, the IOC member in India, welcomed the decision of the game's world governing body for bringing about good governance and clean administration of sports in the country.
"I would like to thank all those who stood for clean sports administration in the country. I would like to thank the sportspersons, administrators and the sports loving people of this country", he said. Clean Sports India, a body which wants to weed out corruption from sports, lauded the IOC to ensure that the amendments were correctly implemented.
"We are happy that the IOC has really understood the game of the IOA officials and has issued these guidelines. We had taken up the matter with IOC and had raised the issue", CSI convenor B V P Rao said.
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