Narinder Batra ousted as IOA boss after court order

Tribune News Service

Vinayak Padmadeo

New Delhi, May 25

After a severe reprimand and being unseated as Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president by the Delhi High Court, Narinder Batra has announced that he will not re-contest for the post.

On Wednesday, a division bench of the Delhi High Court, headed by Justice Najmi Waziri, struck down his life membership of Hockey India, on the basis of which he had contested and won IOA elections in 2017. With this, his term as IOA president ended unceremoniously and IOA’s senior vice-president Anil Khanna took over as acting chief.

Batra’s membership of the International Olympic Committee will also come to an end as the position was linked to him being IOA president. Batra’s life membership of Hockey India was deemed to be in violation of the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011.

Hearing a petition filed by 1975 Hockey World Cup winner Aslam Sher Khan, the Bench appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) for Hockey India, comprising Justice (retd) Anil R Dave, Dr SY Quraishi and Zafar Iqbal.

The court directed CoA recover any money Batra owes as “expenses incurred on such supernumerary, innovative and illegal posts”.

Minutes after the judgment was pronounced, Batra said he would now focus on his role as the president of the International Hockey Federation. “Consequently, I’ve decided to not run for a further term as President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA),” he said. “I feel that the time has come for me to leave this role to someone coming with a fresh mind and new ideas to take Indian sports to much greater heights and also go all out to work to get the 2036 Summer Olympics in India,” he added.

More troubles?

Batra’s troubles are far from over as the judgment mandates CoA to probe whether Batra used his life membership for benefits. “…The illegal post of life president or life member cannot be the stepping stone for any other position or benefit elsewhere, be it nationally (including in the Indian Olympic Association) or in international bodies. If R-3 (Batra) has so benefited, then such benefit or position shall end right away. Let the CoA look into the matter, so would the Government of India,” the judgment reads.

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