JOIN USMalhotra, as well as another vice president, Tarlochan Singh, were unhappy that despite the "carefully worded" statement Tuesday night, sections of both the print and electronic media (not IANS) created an erroneous impression that Kalmadi was "sacked" or "removed".
Kalmadi is now in police custody for investigations into the award of a contract to a Swiss firm for timekeeping and scoring equipment for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Tarlochan Singh said Section 13 B of the IOA constitution is unambiguously clear: "In the absence of the president, the senior vice president shall preside over the meetings. In the event of prolonged absence of the president, the senior vice president will take over the duties and responsibilities of the president during the period of absence."
Under the IOA constitution, Kalmadi cannot be removed unless he himself decides to quit or a no-confidence motion is carried by a two-thirds majority. Both are unlikely to happen till the case against the Congress MP from Pune, who has been at the helm of IOA affairs for 15 years, is disposed off.
Secretary general Randhir Singh, who was not present at Tuesday's meeting of senior IOA officials at Malhotra's residence as he was travelling, got in touch with Malhotra Wednesday to lend support to the move.
Randhir Singh is expected to call a meeting of the Executive Board in the next fortnight to take stock of the situation, though the matter might come up for discussion when the presidents of the national sports federations meet here Monday to take up the issues arising out of the new draft national sports policy which include the contentious government guidelines on tenure of office and age limit for officials.
Monday's meeting will formulate the stand IOA is to take when its delegation meets the committee constituted by the sports ministry under the chairmanship of Justice Mukul Mudgal, retired Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, to thrash out differences over the sports policy.
The committee is to examine in detail the comments and suggestions received from various stakehodlers and fine-tune the draft National Sports Development Bill.
The ministry has invited all stakeholders, including sports bodies, sportspersons and general public to submit their comments and suggestions on the proposed Bill.
The other members of the committee are: Badminton star Prakash Padukone, athlete Ashwini Nachappa, Jhanja Tripathi, Secretary & Executive Director, Railways Sports Promotion Board, an IOA representative and joint secretary (Sports) of the Department of Sports.