Indian Olympic Association under International Olympic Committee radar for delaying appointment of CEO

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is under International Olympic Committee (IOC) scanner for delaying the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or Secretary General of the Apex sports body in the country. The IOA plays an important role in sending the Indian contingent during multi-discipline events like the Asian Games and the Olympic Games.

The IOA was supposed to appoint a CEO in January but has been delaying the process for unknown reasons. The IOA joint secretary Kalyan Chaubey has been holding the post since January. This issue hasn’t gone well with the IOC.

During its virtual executive board meeting, the IOC on Wednesday (June 21) directed the Indian National Olympic Committee (NOC) to finalize the appointment of the CEO.

“The NOC of India has been directed on many occasions to finalise the appointment process of the new CEO/secretary general without any further delay in accordance with the NOC constitution so as to normalise the situation within the NOC,” the IOC posted the statement on its website after Wednesday's meeting.

The IOC further stated that it’s unfortunate the IOA is yet to complete the issue and it will continue to monitor.

“In addition to CEO issue, the NOC of India has been requested to liaise and work closely with the international federations in order to address a number of ongoing issues affecting Indian sports federations in a coordinated manner and in accordance with the rules and directives of the International Federations concerned, this includes in particular the situation of the wrestling federation in India,” the IOC further said.

In the recent past meetings of the IOA, there has been deliberation about CEO appointment but practically nothing has happened. Since IOA is unable to appoint a CEO, discontent among members of the NOC is brewing.

The IOA revised its constitution in November last and wanted to revise again to dilute the eligibility criteria for appointing a CEO but IOC didn't approve that.

CEO is a paid post and as per eligibility criteria of the IOA, the candidate should have ten years of experience of working in a company whose turnover should be Rs 25 crore. One of the functions of the CEO is to oversee day to day functioning of the IOA.