New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Thursday that the election of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) office bearers should go ahead as scheduled and that it will hear the issues related to the sports body on Dec. 7, including the desired amendments to the draft constitution.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices Hima Kohli and JB Pardiwala rejected the plea for an urgent listing of the case sought on the grounds that three “minor amendments” to the draft constitution are due to be decided ahead of the polls .
“The election for office bearers (of the IOA) will begin on December 10. There have been three minor amendments to the constitution prepared by former Supreme Court Justice Judge L Nageswara Rao. The hearing is necessary to hear the issue related to amendments to the constitution,” said a lawyer.
The plea was opposed by Advocate General Tushar Mehta, who appeared before the center, and Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra.
“We will find out on December 7. The elections must go ahead as scheduled,” the bank said.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hold IOA elections on December 10.
Earlier on Tuesday, it had indicated that its orders of October 10 and November 3 regarding the adoption of a new constitution and elections to elect an IOA executive committee would be followed closely.
The law officer had said that the IOA statutes, as drafted by the former Supreme Court judge, were adopted at the sports body’s annual general meeting (AGM) and any changes to them can only be made with the explicit consent of the court .
On November 3, the Supreme Court had approved a new timeline submitted by the Justice Committee LN Rao for the election of the IOA Executive Panel on December 10.
The Supreme Court had also authorized the distribution of the draft amended constitution to members of the IOA for adoption at the November 10 General Assembly.
The SC had noted that the judge had interacted with all stakeholders, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the IOA and its state associations.
In an effort to ensure a fair and developmental approach for the future of India’s Olympic Games, the Supreme Court had appointed Judge Rao on September 22 to amend the IOA Constitution and prepare the Electoral College.
All this came after the IOC issued a “final warning” on September 8 to the IOA to resolve its governance issues and hold elections by December, or the world sports body will ban India.
The IOC Executive Council, which met in Lausanne, Switzerland, had also decided not to recognize any “acting/interim presidents” following the ousting of Narinder Batra as head of the Indian Olympic Association, saying it would deal with General Secretary Rajeev Mehta as the main point of contact.
In May this year, Batra was removed as IOA chief after the Delhi High Court struck down the post of ‘member for life’ in Hockey India that he had contested and won the 2017 apex body election.
Batra later officially stepped down as IOA president.
The IOC had also previously threatened to suspend the IOA if it did not hold its election at the earliest.
The IOA elections were due to take place in December last year, but could not take place due to changes in the electoral process.
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