NEW DELHI, May 28: Indian Olympic Association treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey on Thursday termed the recent actions taken by its president Narinder Batra as �violative of the IOA Constitution� and demanded a meeting of the top sports body�s Executive Council in June.
Pandey�s criticism came just a few days after IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta termed Batra�s decision to dissolve the Ethics Commission as �illegal�.
Mehta had said that the IOA General Body had approved the appointment of the Ethics Commission for the term 2017-2021 and Batra cannot dissolve it two years prior.
In a letter addressed to Batra, Mehta and other members of the sports body, Pandey said in his 40 years of association with the IOA, he has �not seen such violation of constitution and spirit of trust and goodwill�.
�I am not going to discuss here the merits/demerits of the actions being taken. I will do only at the EC meeting which should be convened in June without any further delay,� he said in the letter.
In the past few days, Batra had made a slew of appointments to various committees and commissions, but Pandey said they can come into effect only with the approval of the Executive Council.
�I have to inform you that the various letters of president are only proposals to be considered by the EC. Any action of the new committee/commission prior to the EC meeting will be violative of IOA Constitution and financial propriety,� he said.
Pandey said the IOA will have �to incur all expenditure as per the approved budget and all income has to be duly accounted for under my signatures�.
�... while the constitution gives certain powers to both the president and secretary general, powers relating to financial responsibility vest with me,� said Pandey who is also the secretary general of Handball Federation of India and Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association.
�Actions of appointing new committees and commissions will have significant impact on expenditure of the IOA. This will first have to be approved by the EC.�
Recently, Batra has reconstituted the committee to monitor Annual Grant and Affiliation Fee of IOA members, Northeast Committee, sponsorship, marketing and broadcast committee, among others. � PTI
