The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Wednesday reconstituted the Ethics Commission and Court of Arbitration after having scrapped both the panels last month.
The IOA has also inducted more members to make the two panels more broad-based.
The IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra said the reconstitution of these bodies had been done in keeping with the decision taken at the Annual General Body Meeting (AGM).
The number of members in the Ethics Committee was raised to five from three and the Court of Arbitration to eleven from eight.
The earlier members have been retained. The IOA had set up the Ethics panel along with the Arbitration panel in September after it amended its constitution, which was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The IOA had disbanded these committees during their AGM on December 15, drawing criticism from its general-secretary and IOC member Randhir Singh, who said that
scrapping of these committees will bring bad name to the country.
Even Sports Minister Ajay Maken had said the disbanding of these committees was not done in a transparent manner and hoped the passing of National Sports Bill will help to put the house in order.
Malhotra said the re-forming of these committees is a “befitting reply to those trying to encroach the autonomy of the sports federations.”
“The reconstitution of these committees prove that we have nothing to hide and we are true to our promise and pledge to have a transparent IOA,” Malhotra said in a statement.
“The Indian Olympic Association fully adheres to the Olympic Charter and follows the guidelines of the IOC and at no stage we ignored IOC’s views or suggestions regarding Ethics Committee as has been made out to be by certain vested interests who want to destabilise the IOA.”
The members of these two bodies are retired judges of Supreme Court and the High Courts. Supreme Court Judge (Retd) Arun Kumar and High Court Judge (Retd) SK Mahajan will be the two new members of the Ethics Committee.
The new members of Court of Arbitration are: Supreme court Judge (Retd) HS Bedi, High Court Judges (Retd) SK Agrawal and Manju Goel.
The rules and regulations of Ethics Committee and Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS) will be framed shortly.
All the disputes relating to the sports federation affiliated to the IOA will be decided by the ICAS henceforth.
The office of the IOA will facilitate co-ordination between these bodies. Ethics Committee: Justice (Retd) Umesh Banerjee, Justice (Retd) Arun Kumar, Justice (Retd) RL Khurana, Justice (Retd) MSA Siddiqui, Justice (Retd) SK Mahajan.
Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS): AR Lakshmanan, Justice (Retd) HS Bedi, Justice (Retd) MR Culla, Justice (Retd) RS Sodhi, Justice (Retd) BA Khan, Justice (Retd) Usha Mehra, Justice (Retd) JK Mehra, Justice (Retd) Lokeshwar Prasad, Justice (Retd) SN Sapra, Justice (Retd) SK Agarwal, Justice (Retd) Manju Goel.
