Indian Olympic Association president PT Usha clashed with the governing body’s executive committee again on Thursday after the embattled athletics great refused to back down and rejected calls for his dismissal despite a majority of members reiterating their opposition to the appointment of Raghuram Iyer as CEO. The main agenda of the meeting called by Usha was to ratify Iyer’s appointment as CEO on January 5, but it ended in a deadlock. The bitter feud is expected to intensify in the coming days as both sides stick to their previous positions.
“They want to start the whole process over again, they want to advertise again. It’s like they’re saying we don’t want this person and they want to start the process from scratch,” a furious Usha said after the meeting.
“This (CEO appointment) process took two years and now they want to start from scratch. That will have repercussions (from the IOC). That could jeopardise India’s chances of bidding and hosting the 2036 Olympics,” she warned.
“I will not accept this. I have told the IOC (International Olympic Committee). I am not one to give up and I will not go anywhere without cleaning up the IOA,” she insisted.
What’s interesting is that IOC Director-General Jerome Foibie was attending the meeting online and watching the standoff unfold.
Despite Usha’s warnings, the 10 EC members who were present at the meeting in person issued a statement saying they had decided to restart the CEO appointment process.
“The nomination of Mr. Liar as CEO has not been approved and it has been decided to restart the CEO appointment process under new terms of reference,” the statement said.
The IOC representative called the entire fiasco an “internal matter of the IOC” and said he had “no specific view or interference” in the matter.
Prior to joining IOA, Iyer served as EO for IPL teams Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. He also held administrative roles in football’s Indian Super League and Ultimate Table Tennis.
“The members also noted in the presence of the IOC Executive Board that the process of nominating a CEO should begin as soon as possible, with the appointment expected to be finalised within the next two months,” the statement from the angry EC members read.
Senior Vice President Ajay H Patel, Vice Presidents Rajlaxmi Deo and Gagan Narang, Treasurer Sachdev Yadav, Joint Secretary Alaknanda Ashok and other Executive Committee members Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Rohit Rajpal, Dola Banerjee and Yogeshwar Dutt were present in person.
Co-Secretary Kalyan Chaubey and Executive Committee member Harpal Singh joined online.
The commissioners agreed that “a CEO is essential and must be appointed,” but voted against nominating Lyer to the position.
“…the motion was put to a vote with 10 actual members and 2 members who registered online voting against the motion, resulting in 12 votes against ratifying the CEO,” the statement from a majority of EC members said. “…acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey, who is also IOA’s co-secretary, will continue to carry out his duties in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution,” it said.
Wusha said EC commissioners had agreed to appoint a CEO at their January meeting but had reneged on their promise.
“The EC meeting in January was video recorded. I asked each of them if they would agree to appoint Iyer as CEO. They all said Iyer is great and everything about him is fine. We just need to negotiate his salary,” she said.
“I asked them what the minimum and maximum salary was. They didn’t mention it.
“After that (Iyer’s) appointment was finalised, I conveyed it to the IOC and OCA and they all accepted it.” The controversy is over Iyer’s monthly salary of Rs 2 million and other perks.
Usha said at Thursday’s meeting that she had proposed renegotiating Iyer’s salary, but the 12 EC members insisted the process should start over from scratch.
She said recent developments could jeopardise India’s chances of hosting the 2036 Olympics.
“Only after the appointment of the CEO did the Future Host Committee agree to talk to us. Otherwise, they wouldn’t agree. The CEO has to lead the negotiations, and we have to show professionalism. Otherwise, how can we bid?” she asked.
She said the IOC could have taken drastic measures even before the Paris Olympics, but stopped short of doing so.
“The IOC waited two years because I was there. It could have happened before the Paris Olympics, but they waited.
“Because Iyer was on the Coordination Committee and not the IOA President, we were able to compete under the Indian flag and not the IOC flag.”
She said she and her personal assistant Ajay Narang (whose appointment was “cancelled” by a majority of EC members) had not been paid since their appointment.
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