Former BCCI chief N Srinivasan's brother N Ramachandran, who heads the Indian Olympic Association, bats for transparency after yesterday's landmark Supreme Court verdict
Indian Olympic Association president N Ramachandran speaks at a send-off ceremony for the Rio-bound Indian contingent in New Delhi yesterday. Pic/AFP
New Delhi: There were mixed reactions in the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) yesterday to the Supreme Court's acceptance of the Lodha Committee recommendations.
Indian Olympic Association president N Ramachandran speaks at a send-off ceremony for the Rio-bound Indian contingent in New Delhi yesterday. Pic/AFP
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The apex court among other recommendations agreed to the need to bar ministers and bureaucrats from becoming BCCI members and fixed a maximum age limit of 70 years for those wishing to hold a post in the BCCI.
IOA president N Ramachandran said he was no one to comment on what the country's apex court had decided, but admitted he had a clear stance on corruption.
"As a national association, you must have control over all your affiliated bodies, in IOA's case, that means the National Sports Federations (NSF) and I am very insistent about this. Maybe that's why I have so many opponents within the IOA. I believe all NSFs should be transparent and accountable.
If you are taking money from the government or from private bodies, it is only fair to them and to yourself, that you be transparent and accountable," Ramachandran, the brother of former BCCI president N Srinivasan, told mid-day here yesterday on the sidelines of the send-off ceremony for the Rio Olympics- bound Indian contingent.
Incidentally, Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) president Srinivasan is 71, and will thus have to give up his post with his state body.
However, Ramachandran's deputy, IOA vice-president Tarlochan Singh felt that though the Supreme Court's directives will have to be applied, the ground realities involved in running sport in India make it a different ball game altogether.
"Traditionally and historically, sports in India has always needed the help and sports of ministers. We cannot condemn them so easily," he said. Meanwhile, Union Minister of Sports and Youth affairs Vijay Goel said:
"The ball is in BCCI's court. BCCI must take note of the Supreme Court order and the Lodha committee report and implement it. I want transparency in sports. I want clean sports," Goel told reporters here.
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