The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) formed a three-member ad hoc committee to run the daily affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) on December 27. This action was taken by the sports ministry after the suspension of the wrestling national body for failing to adhere to the provisions of its own constitution when making decisions.
The president of the Wushu Association of India Bhupinder Singh Bajwa will serve as the chairman of the committee. The other two members are hockey Olympian M M Somaya and former international shuttler Manjusha Kanwar.
The Sports Ministry suspended the WFI on December 24, just three days after it elected new office bearers, including Sanjay Singh as president, who is known to be a loyalist of Brij Bhushan Singh. The ministry also directed the IOA to establish an ad-hoc panel to manage the affairs of the sports body.
The IOA said in a release that the newly-elected president and officials of WFI have made arbitrary decisions in violation of their own constitutional provisions and also flouted principles of good governance.
"The IOA has recently become aware that the recently appointed President and officials of WFI have made arbitrary decisions in violation of their own constitutional provisions and against the principles of good governance espoused by IOC and further without following due process overturned the rulings of the IOA- appointed Ad hoc Committee," IOA president PT Usha said in the release.
"This not only highlights a governance gap within the federation but also signifies a noticeable departure from established norms.”
"Since the IOA considers adherence to governance norms as vital for ensuring fair play, transparency and accountability and to safeguard the interests of sportspersons as espoused by IOC and to ensure continuity, it has been decided to appoint an Ad hoc committee.”
The ad hoc committee was assigned the responsibility of supervising and overseeing the operations of the WFI. This encompasses tasks such as athlete selection, submission of entries for participation in international events, organisation of sports activities, management of bank accounts, maintenance of the website, and other associated duties.
Bajwa also served as a member of the ad hoc committee established by the IOA in April to manage the affairs of the WFI and oversee its elections. Despite several delays due to legal proceedings, elections were eventually conducted on December 21, resulting in Sanjay, a close associate of Brij Bhushan, winning the presidential poll.
Shortly after being elected as WFI President, Sanjay declared that age group national championships would take place from December 28 in Gonda, Uttar Pradesh, which happens to be the constituency of BJP MP Brij Bhushan.
The government, in suspending the WFI, cited the federation's "hasty announcement" of organising the U-15 and U-20 nationals "without following due procedure and not giving sufficient notice to wrestlers" for preparations.
The ministry expressed concern that the newly elected WFI body was operating under the direct influence of its former office-bearers, a situation that did not align with the National Sports Code.
Following Sanjay's election as WFI chief, Rio Olympics medallist Sakshi Malik announced her retirement from wrestling. Additionally, Tokyo Games bronze medallist Bajrang Punia returned his Padma Shri to the government, and World Championships medallist Vinesh Phogat also returned her Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award.
This decision came after the trio, leading a five-month-long protest of wrestlers at Jantar Mantar, accused Brij Bhushan of sexually exploiting several women grapplers.
(Powered by AI, Inputs by PTI)
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