* Elects president by throwing norms into winds
Rajesh Dhar
JAMMU, Feb 17: The long due elections of Jammu and Kashmir Olympic Association (JKOA), which were earlier stayed by the court, were held in a meeting of the Association at Amar Singh Club, here today.
The meeting besides holding elections, passed minutes of last meeting and also passed audit accounts of the 35th National Games held at Kerala in 2015.
The election was to be observed by four observers from Jammu and Kashmir State Sports Council including Standing Committee member, Prof Bashir Ahmed Shah; Joint Secretary State Sports Council, Shiv Kumar Sharma; Standing Committee member State Sports Council, Ranjeet Kalra and International Fencer, Rashid Choudhary, while Suresh Sharma was the observer from Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
According to reliable sources, the election to everybody’s surprise was held in an illegal manner, in violation of all the norms of Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Indian Olympic Association (IAO) and J&K State Sports Council, apart from high profile Lodha Commission Report, which debars members over 70 years of age to be part of any Association and also debars any member from being elected president for more than three consecutive terms and other office bearers for more than two consecutive terms.
Sources said that after the Standing Committee Meeting of the J&K State Sports Council in 2013, court had stayed to debar any member over the age of 70 years from being part of the Association, adding that the stay has been vacated in 2015, but despite the vacation of the stay, JKOA, as per its custom, followed the pick and choose policy.
“The observers were simply a frill or an ornament attached to the meeting with no role to play. All the things were set as per the plan of the office bearers,” sources added.
Sources further said that 21 members were present in the meeting, which also included the representatives from J&K Amateur Kabaddi Association, Kho-Kho Association, Yoga Association and Skating Association, which otherwise are not the Olympic sports disciplines.
When contacted, one of the observers, Shiv Kumar Sharma said that all the four observers from the State Sports Council were neither allowed to be introduced with the members nor were allowed to throw light on the guidelines and norms prescribed for electing office bearers of any Association.
He further said that JKOA made the mockery of the Government guidelines and threw the constitution into winds, adding that five years back when the JKOA elections were held he was also present in the meeting as a representative from J&K Indian Style Wrestling Association, but in this meeting even Basketball Association, which is yet to be officially recognized by the J&K State Sports Council was part of the meeting to fit the bill.
Another observer, Prof Bashir Ahmed Shah, when contacted said that the election was all in contravention of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir Olympic Association as no constitution allows any Association to authorize the elected president nominate other office bearers, which was observed in this election.
He said that despite his desire and request, he was not allowed to throw light on the guidelines of the constitution, adding that the members vociferously nominated the president and authorized him to elect the body.
“It is against the spirit of sports. How can you expect good show from the Associations which are framed by violating the norms. Expecting good performance from such Associations is simply to flog a dead horse. We wanted to identify the members and we were not allowed to do so.,” Prof Bashir expressed.
Talking to EXCELSIOR, some prominent members of the sports fraternity have sought personal intervention of Governor NN Vohra in these elections to set the things right and preserve the sanctity of sports.
Meanwhile, the members in one voice elected Rangil Singh as the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Olympic Association and unanimously authorized him to elect other office bearers in consultation with senior members.
The newly elected president promised to elect all the deserving members giving representation to all its affiliate units within two to three days.
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