Court approves deadline for election of IOA Executive Council
The Supreme Court on Monday approved amendments to the draft constitution of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the deadline for its elections as agreed in a meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland on September 27. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said former apex court judge LN Rao would be free to act “without any interference” while drafting the amendments to the IOA constitution.
It will be necessary to ensure that the draft is amended with the approval of the IOC so as to avoid any complications in the future. It said, “The IOA has to complete the process of amending the Constitution and holding elections within the time limit as per the meeting in Lausanne.” The process must be completed before “Both the IOC and the OCA (Asian Olympic Council) have agreed to work with the former judge appointed by this court on the draft of the amended constitution,” the bench said. After the constitution is finalised, it is to be formally adopted by the General Assembly of the IOA.
It said that the second phase would be to conduct IOA elections under the supervision of a former apex court judge as per the newly approved constitution. According to the note submitted by the Center to the court, Justice Rao will hold the first meeting on October 14 and the work of preparing the draft constitution will take place between October 14 and November 7. It said a notice would be issued for a special AGM of the IOA to adopt the new constitution on October 20.
On November 7, the draft constitution will be finalized and a special AGM will be held for its adoption and it will be sent to the IOC for consent. The draft of this constitution will be accepted by the General Assembly of the IOA on November 10. The election process for the IOA Executive Council will begin on November 14 and will be completed by December 3 after the declaration of results. The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to meet on December 5 and the IOC has set the same deadline for the formation of the IOA’s Executive Council.
