- By Namrata Vijay
- Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:08 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Sports Ministry has slammed the Table Tennis Federation of India for making a former office bearer its CEO and described this appointment as against the rules of the National Sports Code, which inculcates good governance practices by the National Sports Federations (NSF).
TTFI made MP Singh, who is a former secretary general their CEO in their AGM earlier this year. Singh was their treasurer from 2013 to 2017 and then also worked as its secretary general from 2017-2021.
The Sports Ministry had issued a circular to NSFs and IOA in 2022 and reckoned that it was ineligible to appoint outgoing office bearers as their CEO as it violates the guidelines set by the Sports code.
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Taking the example of a government circular on the CEO's appointment, the ministry issued a letter to TTFI on Wednesday and urged them to take appropriate action against the matter.
“It has come to the notice of this Ministry that TTFI has appointed Shri M.P. Singh as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to look after all administrative matters of TTFI. To ensure good governance practices in the management of National Sports Federations (NSFs) this Ministry issued letter no. 92-1/2020-SP-III dated 28.02.2022 which is self-explanatory. TTFI is, therefore, requested to take appropriate action in the matter,” the letter issued by the ministry stated.
As per the 2022 circular, the sports ministry revealed, "It has been observed that upon being ineligible for re-election, the outgoing office bearers come back as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Federation, which is against the spirit of the guidelines limiting age and tenure of office bearers of lOA and NSFs of the Sports Code 2011. This issue has been considered in the Ministry and it has been decided that any person who has held an elected post in IOA and an NSF in the past, should not be appointed as CEO. The post of CEO is an administrative position for which the person selected is paid by the IOA and NSF, as per the terms of and conditions of engagement.”
The Ministry has asked the IOA and all the other NSFs to follow these instructions without fail.
According to the TTFI Constitution, which follows the Sports Code, the secretary general and treasurer can work in office for two to four years consecutively and then there is a cooling off period of four years and after that, they can reapply for fresh elections of these positions.
Some members objected to Singh's appointment in the AGM but the House passed the order nevertheless.
“The Sports Ministry is looking to bring a Sports Bill to promote good governance practices in sports bodies and therefore it is going to take up such things very seriously,” an official close to this development said.