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What's the story?
In a latest development, the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) has been de-recognized by the Sports Ministry.
The background
RFI has been in existence since August 30, 1976. It was formed to popularize the sport in India and has its headquarters in Andheri East, Mumbai. It has helped in producing many great rowers year after year.
The national body of rowing had conducted elections on December 6 last year. Rajlaxmi Singh Deo was elected as the President while M.V. Sriram was elected the secretary-general of the body.
The heart of the matter
The reason stated by the Ministry for the de-recognition of RFI is that these elections conducted in Hyderabad last year were not in accordance with the Sports Code of 2011.
As per PTI - In a letter to the RFI President, the Mistry wrote,
"Upon examination of the matter (from the reports of the Returning Officer and government observer), it has been found that the said elections of the RFI are not in accordance with the Model Elections Guidelines prescribed in the National Sports Development Code of India (NSDCI), 2011. It has been decided that the recognition of the RFI would cease w.e.f 01/02/2020 and not be renewed in view of the positions explained."
Violation of the Sports Code was allegedly found in four key areas.
Only 18 of the 21 State/Union territories participated in the election process in December. However, RFI does not fulfill the 23 State/UT affiliation criteria. It was supposed to have a minimum of 25 State/UTs as its affiliated members.
Secondly, M.V Sriram had earlier been the Secretary-General for two terms till January 2016. As per the NSDCI's (Sports Code) cooling off provision (of four years), he should have been allowed to contest in the elections only after 29/01/2020.
Furthermore, proxy voting was allowed by the RFI, for which there is no provision in the election guidelines of the sports code.
Finally, only two votes per affiliated unit are prescribed by the Sports Code but the RFI allowed three. Hence, there were a total of four violations overall.
What's next?
The de-recognition is a major development and could hamper RFI's functioning for an indefinite period. The Ministry has, however, called for the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) to set up an ad-hoc committee to discharge RFI's functions.
