Ministry wants observer changed

By S. Kannan in New Delhi

Affiliated units say they do not want proxies allowed in elections

The Hockey India elections in the Capital on February 7 are turning out to be ugly with the sports ministry once again throwing the rule book at the interim body.

Days after Hockey India had announced that GS Mander would be the returning officer and the sports ministry objected to it, it was the turn of International Hockey Federation ( FIH) vice- president Antonio von Ondarza to shoot a mail to the ministry.

As FIH observer for the polls, Ondarza wrote: “ S K Mendiratta ( government observer) was present when G S Mander accepted his appointment. I have spoken to Mander, who is the president of the Wrestling Federation of India as well as having been the home secretary of the Government of India, and found him as an excellent candidate.

“ This was also the view of the members of the board of Hockey India, including the new president of Hockey India, and of Indian Olympic Association ( IOA) and the FIH. The FIH is totally convinced of the capacity of the returning officer who will receive the nominations, monitor the elections to be held by secret ballot which therefore are going to be fair and transparent,” adds Ondarza’s letter.

But the ministry wasted little time in shooting a strong reply, stating that “ Hockey India is merely an interim body which has nominated itself and cannot exercise unlimited powers which can impair the legitimacy of the newly- elected body.” “ We outright reject Mander as the observer,” the sports ministry wrote to the president of Hockey India, stating that “ the returning officer must be independent of Hockey India as well as IOA because Hockey India itself is a creation of the IOA.” The ministry says it’s rejecting Mander because he holds the post of vice- president in the Indian Olympic Association.

“ In view of this, the ministry has advised Hockey India to take immediate corrective steps and consider appointing C K Mahajan, a retired High Court judge or a retired chief election commissioner or former sports secretary Madhukar Gupta, who also served as the union home secretary before retirement.

Almost a fortnight back, Mendiratta had made it clear in a letter to Hockey India that the observer cannot be from another sports federation or the IOA. But what is intriguing is how the FIH observer is now writing mails, which seem in favour of Hockey India, to the sports ministry.

“ We have been trying to contact Ondarza the whole day, but he was not reachable on the phone. The ministry is committed to having free and fair elections and we will take necessary steps to ensure it.

As regards who is eligible to vote, the ministry is clear it will not allow proxies to be collected.

“ The ministry has issued a strong directive to Hockey India that the representatives of member units who would constitute the governing council of Hockey India should necessarily be office- bearers or members of the member unit concerned.

The government dismissed the contention of Hockey India that their constitution allows even outsiders to be nominated as authorised representatives of member units.

The ministry pointed out Clause 6 F( I) of the Memorandum of Association ( MoA) of Hockey India which clearly states that the authorised representatives of each state unit must be from that member unit.

“ We have spoken on phone to International Hockey Federation president president Leandro Negre that he cannot take unilateral decisions in India. Hockey India is, after all, just an interim body and Negre surely will not try out such things in other countries,” said the sports ministry.

As regards the proxy system, the sports ministry is not alone in being critical of it.

“ We have received letters from the affiliated Hockey India units in Delhi, Jharkand, Punjab and West Bengal that they do not want a proxy system at all,” added an official from the sports ministry.