Media Reports Claiming Kalmadi’s IOA Sacking are Untrue

Rumours suggested yesterday, unhealthy April 26, therapy that the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Suresh Kalmadi, arrested this week over corruption charges in his role as chairman of the Delhi Commonwealth Games, had been sacked from the post he has held since 1996.

However, reports in India from SportzPower claim that this is not the case and that interim presidency of IOA senior vice president Vijay Kumar Malhotra is legally challengeable and flawed.

Malhotra had stated: “The senior vice-president automatically takes over the duties when the President is not there. In the event of a prolonged absence…the senior vice-president eventually assumes charge.”

However, the President of the Archery Association of India, founder President of the Asian Archery Federation as well as the Commonwealth Archery Foundation, is legally unacceptable as he is over the limit of 70 years that has been set by the Indian government for anyone running a sports body.

In explaining why the meeting called by Malhotra to get himself declared interim president is illegal, a legal expert told SportzPower: “The fact is that Malhotra had convened a word of mouth meeting at his own residence, which is not the IOA office, and hence the meeting has no sanctity. 

“The second point is the categorisation of the meeting: was it a General Body Meeting or a Special General Meeting? Unless the meeting is categorised, it’s structure and quorum cannot be decided upon and hence the minutes of the meeting would show something patently illegal.

“Besides, if you look at the constitution of the IOA, a clear 15 days notice has to be given to convene a Special General Meeting, which has not been done.”