The Federation de Internationale Hockey (FIH) has set aside the accusation of one of the Indian Olympic Association vice-presidents, who complained violation of procedure by the FIH President Dr. Narinder Dhruv Batra. The FIH has released the following statement.
Statement from the independent Integrity Unit Chairman Wayne Snell:
“The FIH Disciplinary Commissioner Gordon Nurse received on 8 June a complaint lodged by Indian Olympic Association Vice-President Sudhanshu Mittal against FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, questioning the eligibility of Dr Batra as FIH President.
In compliance with the applicable FIH procedure, this complaint was forwarded to the independent FIH Integrity Unit (FIU), which today decided that it will not be taking any action regarding FIH President Dr Batra in relation to this matter on the basis that the matter is not sustained. Indeed, according to the FIH Statutes at the time, there was no requirement for Dr Batra to change his relationship with Hockey India after his election as FIH President in November 2016. He therefore committed no breach of the procedure or the FIH Statutes.”
Meanwhile, as another boost to Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, which is also the final nail, the International Olympic Committee too conveyed its decision on the Mittal’s complaints to its President Thomas Bach.
Their communique is reproduced.
“It is noted that the internal issues to which you (sushansu Mittal) refer were addressed and resolved prior to the elections by the NOC General Assembly, which is the NOC’s supreme decision-making body and the results of the NOC’s elections were not challenged,” said IOC’s Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer Paquerette Girard Zappelli.
The letter the FIH President wrote to CEO, FIH, is reproduced below
*Mr. Thierry Weil,*
*CEO International Hockey Federation*
*CEO International Hockey Federation*
*Dear Thierry, Dear FIH Executive Board Members*
It has come to my attention that all of you have received a detailed email from a *Mr. Sudhanshu Mittal, Vice President Indian Olympic Association* dated Monday 8 June 2020 at 5.40 P.M addressed to Mr. Gordon Nurse, and further the same letter/email has been sent to Mr. Thierry Weil, CEO International Hockey Federation on Wednesday 10 June 2020 at 3.15 P.M and subsequently the same letter/email to FIH Member National Associations also on Wednesday 10 June 2020.
*At the outset, although the letter has been sent on what appears to be Indian Olympic Association (IOA) letterhead, please don’t be misled since the complaint is not from the Indian Olympic Association nor does Mr. Mittal have the authority to officially correspond on behalf of the Indian Olympic Association and his email/letter is being sent by him in his personal capacity as Vice President of the Indian Olympic Association. Mr. Mittal is also not sending “his complaint” as a matter of good governance, but with purely selfish and malicious motives.*
To provide you context to the motivation in Mr. Mittal sending this letter, it is two-fold.
The first that you need to be aware of is that Mr. Mittal has made it abundantly clear in India and within IOA circles that he intends to stand for the post of President of the Indian Olympic Association in the elections in 2021.
The second is more of a personal nature and those of you that are familiar of my working style are aware that I am an individual that will take a situation head on when I believe that injustice is or has been done.
The first that you need to be aware of is that Mr. Mittal has made it abundantly clear in India and within IOA circles that he intends to stand for the post of President of the Indian Olympic Association in the elections in 2021.
The second is more of a personal nature and those of you that are familiar of my working style are aware that I am an individual that will take a situation head on when I believe that injustice is or has been done.
*As President of the Indian Olympic Association, I have taken a number of tough decisions for the good of IOA and Indian sports and as a consequence I have disrupted the environment for some that have functioned for years in sports administration and enjoyed privileges by contravening the system.*
As Mr. Mittal himself has pointed out in his email/letter to FIH and FIH Member Associations, the International Hockey Federation has only jurisdiction over matters related to Hockey.
However, since Mr. Mittal has gone out of his way to discredit me in front of the Hockey community I felt that it was necessary to immediately briefly address the misleading and inaccurate comments of Mr. Mittal in his above mentioned email/letter.
*Allow me to please start with an assurance that I have not flouted any of the Rules and Regulations of the Indian Olympic Association or International Hockey Federation or Hockey India in my election as President of the Indian Olympic Association or the President of the International Hockey Federation.* Again those who know me are well aware that I believe that Rules & Regulations are the foundation for our working and I have been known to be somebody who would be strict on compliance.
1. *Matters related to the Indian Olympic Association (Email / letter point no. 1 – 9 and 12 – 13)*
With regards to my election as President of the Indian Olympic Association in 2017, for which I will not go into too much detail at this time since Mr. Mittal provided extension references (but no supporting documentation) explaining the workings of the Indian Olympic Association to which I’m sure was only provided to try to confuse and add irrelevant substance to his exhaustive letter.
The elections of the Indian Olympic Association in 2017, like all other professional sports bodies, follows the rules governed in the Election By-Laws which are issued ahead of the Elections.
Additionally, the Indian Olympic Association elections which were held on 14 December 2017 were overseen by an Election Commission, which comprised of three retired Hon’ble High Court Judges. These highly knowledgeable and experienced individuals ensured that appropriate scrutiny of nominations was conducted and the proceedings were followed at each stage of the process.
To make you aware that ahead of the 14 December 2017 Indian Olympic Association elections, an objection was raised on 4 December 2017 to the Indian Olympic Association Election Commission by Mrs. Praveen Mahajan, President of the All India Tennis Association regarding my ineligibility for inclusion in the Electoral College List for the said elections. The complaint was later withdrawn by Mrs. Mahajan and the Election Commission mentioned that there was no substance to the complaint.
It is worth mentioning that Mr. Mittal himself is unaware of the facts and is merely making up stories and inaccuracies as can be seen from his email to Mr. Gordon Nurse and FIH dated Monday 8 June 2020, where he stated a Mr. Anil Khanna raised the complaint to the Election Commission and has changed the same in his letter to CEO FIH dated 10 June 2020.
Further the results of the 2017 elections of the Indian Olympic Association have been approved, recognised and accepted by the Ministry, Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India and the International Olympic Committee since the conduct of the elections followed all the necessary guidelines and requirements.
It is interesting that in the very same elections of the Indian Olympic Association held on 14 December 2017, Mr. Mittal himself stood and won the election for the post of Vice President Indian Olympic Association.
At that time Mr. Mittal had no objections with my election as the President however as of 2020, he is now simply trying to find any remote opportunity to malign my character and reputation so that he can project himself as the best candidate for the post of President in the 2021 Indian Olympic Association elections.
2. *Hockey India Elections 2014 (Email / letter point no. 10)*
The 2014 elections of Hockey India followed again all necessary Election By-Laws and the elections were approved, recognised and accepted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India, the Indian Olympic Association and the International Hockey Federation.
It is unclear why Mr. Mittal is pursuing this however his reference to the Indian Sports Code is simply foolish, without merit and is a desperate attempt on his part to corroborate his malicious scheme and add more pages to his complaint in order to make it appear huge and voluminous.
3. *International Hockey Federation Statutes 2016 (Email / letter point no. 11)*
Purely on the basis to add bulk to his email/letter, Mr. Mittal references the International Hockey Federation Statutes 2016 and my election as President of the International Hockey Federation on 12 November 2016. Mr. Mittal has submitted a similar “personal complaint” to the International Olympic Committee, however quotes the International Hockey Federation Statutes dated 2018 which was not in applicable on me in the 2016 Elections as the International Hockey Federation President. Clearly realising his error, the confused Mr. Mittal tries to misinterpret the meaning of Article 7.2 in the International Hockey Federation Statutes 2016, where there is no requirement to resign from my post as President, Hockey India after my election to the President, International Hockey Federation. Still as a practice of good governance I did resign from this post to ensure no conflict of interest.
There is no other purpose to adding such references then to complicate his complaint and to put pressure on me to resign from one or more of my posts and embarrass me in front of the hockey community.
4. *IOC Membership (Email/letter point no. 14)*
Mr. Mittal by questioning my membership with the International Olympic Committee is his way of exhausting all avenues available to him to again put excessive pressure on me and to humiliate me so that I resign from the post of President, Indian Olympic Association.
It is unfortunate to see that Mr. Mittal is going to such great lengths to discredit me when his energy could be utilised serving Indian sports.
5. *Indian National Sports Code 2017(Email/letter point no. 15)*
What Mr. Mittal fails to mention in his email/letter was that I was the first Sports Administrator to challenge the earlier versions of the Government of India’s Sports Code way back in 2002 and when any reference is done in India in Hon’ble Courts for Justice, the judgment quoted is from “Narinder Batra v/s Union of India”. Based on my extensive understanding of the Sports Code along with practical implementations of the Code from my many years of decorated services to the sports bodies/industry I was appointed in January 2017 as a Member of the 9 Member Government of India nominated Committee to provide recommendations and advise to the Government of India for how to improve the Indian Sports Code.
The Committee as a whole put forward many recommendations to the Government of India which they saw fit to ensure improved and good governance practices in India sports.
The updates in the Sports Code are yet to be approved or implemented and as such Indian sports is under the Sports Code of 2011.
I do enjoy that Mr. Mittal has such an extravagant and vivacious imagination when it comes to many points in his email/letter and he gives me far more credit for being mischievous then I could even hope to be.
6. *Amendments to the Constitutions / Statutes of the Indian Olympic Association, International Hockey Federation and Hockey India (Email/letter point no. 16 – 18)*
With references to any amendments made in the Constitution / Statutes of the Indian Olympic Association, International Hockey Federation or Hockey India.
Mr. Mittal is portraying that we are all fools and not conscious of the fact that any amendments are always put before the respective Congress for approvals and ratification.
The changes that he is suggesting were all after I was elected to the posts of President of the International Hockey Federation in 2016 and President of the Indian Olympic Association in 2017 and as such had completely no bearing on the election process in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
It is evident that Mr. Mittal is trying to dishonour me with his dubious and motivated claims and is providing his interpretation on various documents and Articles all while providing partial and incomplete information/details to cause misconception within the Indian and global sports community, all while he has a single minded personal motive to be the President of the Indian Olympic Association.
I can only say that his actions are irresponsible, reckless and solely directed only to defame me.
*Finally, I apologise to the hockey community that unnecessary internal issues within the Indian Olympic Association are taking up your valuable time and I do hope you and your families are all in good health and are staying safe during these unprecedented times.*
*I request you to please accept the above clarifications and take the same on record and please excuse the brief reply that is forced to be sent over whatsApp.*
Unfortunately, as you might be aware that my family is currently combating a Covid-19 outbreak in my home where 8 Members are Covid-19 positive and as such I am in quarantine and unable to leave my residence.
I am not scheduled to return to the office until after 26 June 2020 however once in the office I will send a more detailed reply to refute the allegations made by Mr. Mittal.
Thanking you and stay safe.
Warm Regards
*Narinder Dhruv Batra*
President
International Hockey Federation
President
International Hockey Federation