IOA EC defers emergency meeting after PT Usha's letter

Indian Olympic Association

The Emergency Meeting called by 10 of the 15 members of the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) Executive Committee (EC) on Tuesday to ratify the suspension of IOA’s CEO Raguram Iyer was postponed indefinitely a day after IOA president PT Usha wrote to all EC members, calling the meeting “improper and illegal.”

Usha’s letter was in response to the one sent by EC members on February 6 expressing reservations about the appointment of Iyer as the CEO.

“We have decided to postpone the emergency meeting indefinitely. We are still discussing among ourselves. Also, a number of us are travelling, so the meeting was not feasible,” an EC member, who didn’t wish to be named, said.

“Our issue, however, remains the same. IOA is not in great financial health and spending so much on the CEO’s salary is not done,” the member added, referring to Iyer’s ₹20 lakh take-home monthly salary. “He was initially hired for ₹30 lakh a month and it was only after our objections that the remuneration was brought down by 30%. We can use the money on our athletes. A CEO anyway doesn’t have much role to play in running sports,” the member added.

Iyer was named IOA’s CEO on January 5 — already a year behind schedule — and after multiple reminders from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). His appointment has remained a bone of contention between the EC and Usha. Last week, EC members had written to Usha calling Iyer’s appointment “null and void.” Usha, however, claimed the letter was never sent to her and was instead leaked to the press.

“We finally received an email from the EC on February 6, following which Usha decided to reply. Iyer’s appointment was done by the Nomination Committee and EC has no role in it. Their act of declaring his position null and void is unconstitutional, which is what was conveyed by Usha,” an official informed.

The letter claimed that Iyer’s appointment was largely agreed upon by the entire EC with his salary being the only sticking point among the members.

“During the EC meeting, Shri Sharath Kamal heartily accepted the proposal in its entirety whereas Shri Gagan Narang refrained from commenting at all. The remaining members, while accepting the appointment of Shri Raghuram Iyer as the CEO, requested the IOA President to renegotiate the salary,” the letter noted.

Calling EC’s Feb 6 letter an “afterthought” and an attempt to “discredit the Nomination Committee as well as the IOA President,” Usha wrote that a person of Iyer’s experience “cannot come to the IOA without the IOA spending appropriately.”

Further, Usha noted that the Emergency Meeting called by the EC itself was in violation of IOA’s constitution since only the President has the authority to call an EC meeting.

“In terms of Article 15.3.3 (j) read with Article 15.1.2 and Article 9 of the Constitution, only the President can call for the EC Meeting. No one else, including members of the EC, are empowered to call for an EC Meeting. Therefore, since the EC meeting mentioned in your email has not been called by me, it is improper and illegal,” Usha wrote.

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