Indian Hockey Federation
Annual General Body meeting
Minutes of the Meeting of the AGM of the IHF held at Intercontinental The Grand, barakhamba Lane, New Delhi at 10.30 Am on 17th Sept. 2008 under the Chairmanship fo sh KPS Gill. President, Indian Hockey Fedeeration.
Present: As per Annexure – I
Apologies: Mumbai Hockey Association, U P Hockey Association, Tripura Hockey Association, Mizoram Hockey Association, MP Hockey Association
The president extended war welcome to the members and said that we are meeting at a very important time and informed that IOA has arbitrarily suspended IHF and reminded that we at IHF are member of the IOA and pay subscription to IOA. He expressed surprised over the manner IOA has acted in haste and without verifying the facts and suspended IHF.
He informed that TV channel show on fo our official purportedly accepting bribed. The president added that at first instance one is inclined to believe it but viewing of further footage shows that the official appears to have been trapped in a concocted and fabricated sting operation. He said that the secretary general had immediately informed him that he accepted the money as retention money for organizing a six nation tournament and TV channel then showed him discussing for inclusion of one player on the team. The footage were shown in such manner so as to give an impression to viewer that the cash is accepted for selection of the player.
The president informed the house that he immediately constituted a three member enquiry committee consisting of Retd. High Court Judge, Mr KM Natarajan, Shri Rajiv Mehta and Sh. WI. Davaram (Retd. IPS) who all agreed. The president disclosed that while this was going on, IOA rang up both Mr Rajiv Mehta and Mr WI Davaram who is perhaps associated with Athletics and advised them not to sit in the Enquiry Committee of the IHF.
The president further informed the House that IOA called a Meeting on 28th April which was like a ‘tamasha’ as lot of TV crew and journalists were present. Sh Gill in the meeting explained to IOA members that we cannot rely and trust a sting operation and apprised them about the action taken by him and informed tat the Secretary General Jothikumarn has resigned and he would not be associated with Hockey activities and secondly he has already constituted a three member enquiry committee. He also informed the IOA members that Mr. Jothikumaran has already filed a Libel suit in Madras High Court. The president observed that while he was giving the details and discussing the matter he realized something is fishy. The President of IOA, Mr Suresh Kamadi pulled out a paper from his table and said that he has got a letter form FIH criticizing IHF. Mr. KS Gill intervened to point to that what Mr. Kalmadi is having is not a letter from FIH but a copy of the PTI Report. The president later demanded a copy of the proceedings, Shri Kalmadi assured to provide the copy but till date the same has not been received. The President pointed that many members have expressed their views and observed that conduct of single office bearer does not call for suspension of IHF.
The president informed the House that till date we have been provided copy of the IOA’s proceedings neither ay inquiry has been initiated by IOA s such a case has been filed in the Delhi High Court who has on the previous hearing directed the IOA to furnish an affidavit within four weeks giving timeframe for election of the IHF and have fixed the next date of hearing on 4th Dec, 2008.
About the libel suit filed by Sh Jothikumaran, President informed the House that the defendents TV Channel ‘Aaj Tak’ has not responded to Notice even after couple of hearings, this was confirmed by Sh. Jothikumaran who was present in the House. The President observed that this clearly shows that the case was fabricated, concocted and tailored with malicious intent to defame the IHF.
The president referred to an article published in the Indian Express during the Olympics exposing IOA of deliberately breaching the protocol leading to National Shame by misusing he invitation meant for Head of State which was forwarded to the PS Chairperson instead of our Prime Minister by the IOA president, Sh. Suresh Kalmadi. UP Chairperson, who attended the opening ceremony at Beijing was not accommodated in the box meant for Head of the States b in other enclosures, instead Sports Minister Mr. MS Gill was accommodated in the box meant for Head of the State. The newspaper accused the IOA president for this national shame the IOA has not so far contradicted the facts carried out in the Article.
The president then took up the agenda:
1. Confirmation of the Minutes of the previous general Body meeting held on 23rd May, 2005 at Kolkata.
The Minutes of the meeting were already circulated and the president asked the members ro raise any point arising out of the Minutes. Since there was none the minutes were treated as confirmed as proposed by Sh S.S. Saini and seconded by Sh. SP Dass.
2. Adoption of Hony. General’s and Hony. Treasurer’s Reports
At the outset President shared the sentiments of the House and expressed regrets that our tea failed to qualify for the Olympics and said that qualification system has changed since Asian Games and added that unfortunately, before Asian games our main drag flicker was injured and we lost our crucial pool match to China forfeiting our chances of becoming an automatic qualifier. He also said that putting hockey in ‘Non Priority category’ was also one reason.
Referring to Olympic qualifier at Chile, Mr RK Shetty, Manager of the team, apprised the house about the biased attitude of the Tournament Director who needlessly called our two key players who were shown yellow cards during the match earlier in the day, at our hotel at odd hours in the night and issued stern warning to play fair and threatened them if they commit anymore mistake they will be suspended from the tournament Mr Shetty added that this shattered the morale of the players and we decided not to play them next morning, resultantly lost the crucial match. The behaviour of the Tournament Director was unprecedented and have never happened in any international tournament. The President further informed that complaint about the conduct of the TD was also lodged with FIH. Unfortunately, back ho in India, one of our umpire Mr. Ku(c)koo Walia went on TV blaming our players without knowing the facts that what was happening off the field in Chile.
Sh. Jothikumaran agreed with the observations of the President and remarked that change in the qualification system has led to the Olympic competition being of low standard if you go by the results as there has been big Margins n some of the matches. he commended the contribution of Punjab, Chandigarh, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu Hockey Associations in holding important tournaments.
Mr. Jothikumaran read out a letter addressed to Sh KPS Gill from IOA’s Secretary General dated 13th Sep, 2007 congratulating the Indian team for t winning the Asia Cup and commending the leadership of Sh. KPS Gill for the great resurgence of Indian hockey and wondered what changed their stand within five months.
The reports of Hony. Secretary General and Hony. Treasurer were adopted as proposed by Sh. Charanjit Singh and seconded by Sh. I Rehman.
3. Adoption of Accounts for the year 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008
The Audited accounts for the period mentioned above were circulated about ten days before and the same has been recommended by the EC for adoption. The President asked the members to raise any point for clarification. Since there was non Sh. SS Saini proposed to pass the Accounts which was seconded by Shri Charanjit Singh and the Accounts for the year 2005-2006, 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 were adopted by the general Body.
4. Appointment of Auditors for the year and fix their remuneration:
The House decided to continue with the same Auditor. i.e. M/s Sanjay Sabran & Co on the same remuneration as proposed by Sh. Ramesh Kolappa and seconded by Sh. Abdul Razaak.
5. Nomination of Representatives on IOA
The house unanimously decided to nominate Sh. KPS Gill, Sh Chandershekhar and Sh. Pratap Satpathy to represent the IHF in the General Council of the IOA.
6. Pending Legal cases and IOA action against IHF
President informed the House that he has filed a case against the decision of the IOA and recalled that on 29th Aug, 2008, the last date of hearing, our Counsel before going to the Court enquired from him whether we could ask for election. The President stated that preserving the identify of the IHF has always been foremost and important to him and everything else comes thereafter. Our Counsel pleaded for elections before the Hon’ble court but IOA’s Advocate expressed that he has no instructions in this regard from IOA. Interestingly, just one day before i.e. on 28th Aug, 08, Sh. Suresh Kalmadi wrote a letter to our affiliated units giving details of next two years programme for Hockey which clearly implies that IOA has no immediate plant to get a new body installed and spells their malafide intentions.
The president highlighted the performance of the Indian team especially during 2006-2007 when it was at its peak and noted than one other then the secretary General o IOA vide his letter dated 13th Sep 2007 termed the victory of Indian team in 7th Asia Cup as ‘Great Resurgence of Indian Hockey’ while congratulating the tem and the IHF. The President expressed that Hockey can only be popularized by organizing more and more tournaments.
World Cup: The President informed the House that we have already signed a MOU with FIH staging the World cup in 2010 and expressed surprised as to how can IOA sign it again. President is hopeful to settle the matter in due course of time.
Astroturfs: The president emphasized the need for More Astro Turfs in our country so that youngsters could start from the turf. He further informed the House that around eight Astro Turfs are being added in and around Delhi and it would become a great Centre of Hockey he further added that Chandigarh, Chennai and Coorg (Karnataka) are fast becoming Hockey Centre.
The House resolved to authorize the President to go ahead and pursue the court case vigorously against the IOA and modify the approach in the best interest of the Federation.
7. Any matter with the permission of the Chair
The president informed the House that Executive Committee has recommended to organize the Sub Junior nationals on Zonal basis. The President suggested to form the Zones not on the regional basis but by allocating zone to different units by maintaining proper balance of teams so that good teams may not clash win their respective zones. The President asked the members to come forward to host the Zonal championships. Himachal Pradesh, Hyderabad and Manipur came forward to host while Chandigarh agreed to host the final phase. It was decided to hold Sub Jr. Nationals in the 3rd week of Nov and exact dates would be communicated well in advance.
The President sought the opinion of the House about the dates for election and suggested to hold the election sometime between third week of December and first week of January.
Sh. I Rehman suggested to hold the lection in the last week of No, 08. some members raised apprehensions in conducting the lections before the date of next hearing of the pending court case. Sh. Shaukat Khan explained in detail the legal points and emphasized that we should conduct the lectin before the Court date and since Mr. Johikumaran has resigned, someone from this august house can be appointed Hony. Genl. Secretary.
MR. Satpathy was of the view tht IHF is an autonomous body registered under the Societies Act and having its won constitution as such holding of elections can not be barred by law. He termed IOA’s action as unfortunate as they have not followed the principle of natural justice as they have never asked us to explain through any letter or charge sheet against any of our officials. Merely on the basis of media reports, they have accused Mr. Jothikumarn, who is not a convict.
Mr. Satpathy propose(d) that House may authorize the President to appoint acting Secretary General from this august House in place of Sh. Jothikumaran The House unanimously agreed to this.
Mr. Satpathy appreciated the stand taken by Sh. KPS Gill, President for safeguarding identity and interest of the Federation and Hockey at large and criticized IOA for damaging the reputation of IHF He further appealed to the members to remain united as one Hockey Family.
Sh Chander Shekhar remarked that some of the members are not present in the meeting and if we treat them as a family then we must introspect the reason that why some members have abstained. He emphasized that by dong so we can strengthen the IHF and restore the lost image. He further expressed his dissent with the view of Sh. Shaukat Khan for holding elections in No, 08 on the grounds that some of the members are not present in the Meeting.
The president responding to Mr. Chander Shekhar’s remarks said that we have a quorum for the meeting and we are holding the meeting as per rules and clarified that this House is fully authorized to take any decision. He asserted that the people have stayed away from the Meeting for their own reasons the President reminded the House that we have a dispute with the IOA and not within IHF.
He further sought the advise of the House whether we should go for election before the court date or after that.
Mr. Shaukat Khan citing various legal points advised that no law prevents us from holding elections prior to Court date i.e 4th Dec 08. S.S. Saini opined that we should not go for elections in Nov, 08 and have it after the court date.
As no consensus was arrived it was decided to authorize the President to discuss the matter with our advocates and decided whatever is in the best interest of IHF.
Meeting eneded with vote of thanks to the Chair proposed by Sh HS Khar(a)banda
Signed by KPS Gill, President.