SAI says it doesn't have dopers' list

The NADA panel headed by Sudhir Nandrajog, subsequently made SAI a party in the case filed by 1992 Asian Marathon champion Sunita Godara.

Godara had demanded that the list of dope offenders from 1991-2000 be released but SAI said it cannot provide the list because the concerned NSFs did not maintain such records.
But the panel asked SAI to furnish the names of dope offenders whose records are available with any of the NSFs.

The panel said that SAI is a necessary party to this proceedings and that the documents provided by SAI will be necessary for the panel to settle the long-pending dispute. The panel issued notice to SAI to appoint an official for the next hearing date.

Last month, the NADA panel had released a 37-page list on the orders of the Delhi High Court pertaining to the 2001-2008 period in which around 120 athletes out of the list of 360-odd were found to have gone unpunished by their respective federations even after they flunked dope tests.

NADA had released the list last month after the HC passed an order in July 2009, asking it to take appropriate action against the dope-flunked athletes for the period from 1991 to 2008, on a Public Interest Litigation filed in 2000 by Godara.

SAI had submitted two lists of dope offenders — of 257 and 301 athletes — before the High Court, one on July 24, 2001 (pertaining to 1991 to 2001) and the other in 2009 (pertaining to 2001 to 2008).

Godara had filed a Civil Writ Petition in 1998 and Delhi High Court converted it into a PIL two years later.

The first hearing before the NADA panel was held on November 17. The next hearing is scheduled for January 5, 2012.

The 1991-2000 list had generated plenty of interest in the sporting circles, with reports suggesting that it contained names of many leading athletes of that period.