Administration, Chandigarh Sports Department pass the buck

Deepankar Sharda

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 27

The UT Administration and UT Sports Department passed the buck on being asked about the sports achievements of the members of the Sports Committee of the Administrator’s Advisory Council.

Also, both departments denied having minutes of any meetings held except for a few from 2000 till date. Both departments also hesitated in explaining the reason for not including major sportspersons in the council. They shared the information with The Tribune under the RTI Act.

Despite several big names — former Indian sprinter Milkha Singh, his wife Nirmal Milkha Singh, an international volleyball player, former international cricketer Dinesh Mongia and former Indian football team captain Harjinder Singh — present in the city, the council has only one meritorious sportsperson, Olympics gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra, who did not attend the last meeting as per a press communique. “In a recently held meeting, the committee announced that they will pay a visit to Milkha Singh for taking his ‘ideas’. However, at first, the Administration did not bother to include him in the council,” said an official

RTI replies

The office of the Superintendent Misc and RTI (CPIO), UT Administration, replied that the information would be provided by the UT Sports Department. However, the latter informed that the information is with the former. As per the guidelines, the members of the council shall be nominated by the Administrator for a period of two years.

No minutes of meetings

According to the information, the Administration has only a few minutes of the meetings held since 2000. The minutes of a meeting held on June 19, 2014, were provided wherein no discussion on sports was held. As per the officials, they don’t have any data on minutes of the meetings, except for a few. And the remaining documents, if any, will be shared soon.

While no official wished to come on record, sources in the Sports Department said they were at the receiving end due to the shortcomings of the Administration. “The Sports Department has nothing to do with the nominations as it is directly appointed by the Administration. We are just informed about the committee. They should be the one answering all queries,” said an official.