No concession to IBF, warns sports ministry

Even as the Indian Boxing Federation is heading to the polls on September 23, the recent events suggest that this could be one of the most fiercely-contested elections in the federation’s history.

It has been widely reported that the federation is planning to re-elect president Abhay Singh Chautala and secretary general Brig PK Muralidhar Raja. That would mean violating the government norms of tenure and age. According to the ministry guidelines, a president cannot serve more than three terms.

Similarly, a secretary cannot be in office for more than two terms. A comeback is only allowed after a cooling-off period. Chautala and Raja have already completed their terms.

The IBF has written a letter to the sports ministry, seeking exceptions to the rule on the ground of “decent progress boxing has made under the present set of office-bearers.”

It is learnt that there’s a move to elevate brigadier Raja to the post of president. However, the government guidelines prohibit him from doing so until he retires. Raja will only retire next November.

A sports ministry official has made it quite clear that there would be no concession to any sports federation on the issue of age and tenure. “The government has already given in writing to the honourable Delhi High Court on this issue,” the official said.

Asked what if the IBF re-elects the president and the secretary for another term, the official said, “If they go against the government policy, the elections will be declared null and void.”

Meanwhile, the IBF failed to appoint any returning officer, despite Wednesday being the last date for filing nominations. It is learnt that many aspirants, who reached the IBF office in Delhi to file the nominations, handed over their papers to the office boys in the absence of a returning officer.

“Only brigadier Raja knows about election procedures. Please contact him,” was the answer DNA got from almost all the top officials. Raja disconnected the phone instantly when contacted and refused to answer the subsequent calls.

IBF senior official Jay Kawli admitted that there had been no returning officer to accept the forms. He said the matter would be discussed and sorted out a day before the elections (on September 22).

“There is confusion about whether to follow the government guidelines or not? IBF is a progressive body, unlike other federations. I hope this problem will be resolved when we meet on September 22 in Patiala before the elections,” he said.
On the absence of a returning officer, he added, “We follow the protocol but there was confusion. Our applications were duly received by the office staff there.”

However, an aspirant for the president’s post (name withheld on request) told this paper that frenetic backdoor activities are on to re-elect the three present office-bearers — president, secretary general and treasurer.

“It’s a complete chaos here. I doubt whether the elections will be held on scheduled date,” a senior IBF official said.