Adhere to govt guidelines, Sports Ministry to IHF
MS Unnikrishnan/TNS
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has finally woken up to the fact that the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), headed by super cop KPS Gill, was going to hold its annual general body meeting and elections on October 3 in Delhi without following the government guidelines, and directed it to follow the guidelines in letter and spirit.
In a letter addressed to the IHF president, director in the Ministry Deepika Kacchal asked the IHF to comply with the government guidelines “in order to ensure free, fair and transparent elections”.
She said the government had defined the following basic principles to be followed while holding elections:
a) An independent returning officer (preferably a retired high court judge) should be appointed who will initiate the election process;
b) There should be a clear election schedule spelling out the date of filing of nominations, withdrawal of nominations and scrutiny of nominations, publication of the list of candidates, date of elections etc;
c) There should be a clear and transparent voter list which will form the electoral college;
d) The elections should be held through secret ballot.
The ministry has directed the IHF to intimate the schedule of the election process, including the dates of notifications, nominations, scrutiny and announcement of candidates, along with the name of the returning officer, “urgently”.
The ministry has warned the IHF that “failure to follow the government guidelines will have impact upon the recognition of the IHF as a National Sports Federation (NSF)”.
Interestingly, the IHF agenda circulated had simply mentioned that the AGM and elections would be held, and no other detail. The ministry noted that “while we are yet to receive any intimation about the necessary changes having been carried out in the constitution of the amalgamated society, we are in receipt of this letter informing about the proposed elections of the office-bearers”.