IOA CEO appointment: 12 EC members allege president Usha

Around a dozen of Executive Council EC members of Indian Olympic Association alleged that president PTUsha exerted pressure on them to pave the way for Raghu Iyers appointment as CEO a charge that the legendary athlete termed shameful Usha had issued an official statement on January 6 about the appointment of Iyer as CEO but 12 out of 15 EC members said that former Rajasthan Royals chief executives recruitment hasnt been ratified by the apex body you did not list the appointment of the CEO in the agenda circulated for our previous EC meeting While introducing the matter into the agenda unilaterally you tried to exert pressure on us to make a rushed and hasty decision a letter dated January 14 and signed by 12 members of EC statedAlso Read A subdued exit The quiet decline of domestic cricketWe found the manner in which you conducted the proceedings to inappropraite and not befitting of our institution The letter was signed by all the EC members except for Usha herself Olympic medallist Mary Kom and ace paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal It must be mentioned that Sharath is an active athlete Those who signed included senior vice president Ajay Patel treasurer Sahadev Yadav vicepresidents Raj Laxmi Deo and Gagan Narang and another Olympic medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt We hereby placed on record that the appointment of the CEO was not ratified by the EC EC members were not given opportunity to peruse the proceedings of the nomination committee and understand the decision making process followed and the criteria used for selecting the candidate The revolting members also alleged that Usha unilaterally decided on the CEOs salary and perks which would be a whopping Rs 3 crore per annumWe also requested you to give us 710 days time to review and negotiate the CEOs salary before any decision was to be made You chose to ignore all our requests jumped the gun and unilaterally informed the press about the appointment of the CEO and also unilaterally declared what the CEOs salary would be RS 20 lakh per month plus allowances which brings the total CTC to around Rs 3 crore per annum The communication with the press and the negotiation of compensation was done without any consultation with or decision by the EC Usha replied to the letter and asserted that the appointment of CEO was discussed at length in the EC meeting and the majority of the members present ratified the appointment of IyerAlso Read Naomi Osaka vows not to mope after bittersweet Australian Open exitDuring the Emergency EC meeting held at Olympic Bhavan on 05 Jan 2024 the appointment of CEO was discussed at length under the Agenda Point No 2 Governance Issues and the majority of the members present with the exception of Lt Gen Harpal Singh Retd Shri Gagan Narang and Shri Yogeshwar Dutt had expressed agreement with the Nomination Committees choice and ratified the name of Shri Raghuram Iyer as CEO for IOA she said It is a matter of great shame that on the day the CEO has taken formal charge certain members of the Executive Council have raised concerns and objections to these decisions Usha a celebrated former athlete and also a Rajya Sabha member also said that the International Olympic Committe may even contemplate suspension of the IOAThe combined decision of the majority was subsequently communicated to the IOC This process was undertaken with transparency and in accordance with the democratic principles that govern our esteemed organization she said in her reply Usha warned members that this kind of precedence would lead to suspension of the national Olympic body Any attempts to now disrupt the functioning of the office of the CEO for IOA shall have an adverse impact on the credibility of IOA The IOC board may even contemplate suspension of the IOA for nonimplementation of the provisions of the IOAs Constitution The members asked Usha to keep the onboarding of the CEO in abeyance until the EC has had a chance to deliberate consider and review the matter For the purpose of this decision to be made we will need to be provided adequate information about the current budgetary and financial condition of IOA details about the selection process the candidates considered and the basis on which the shortlisting decision was madeWe would also like to bring to your attention that upon the public announcement of the CEO we have received multiple concerning reports regarding the prior employment track record of the shortlisted candidate Kindly let us know whether a due diligence and background check was conducted by the IOA and please share of the copy of the same so that we can understand whether these reports have any basis It must be mentioned that Iyer was Rajasthan Royals CEO when the infamous IPL spotfixing scandal broke in 2013 On this Usha said The EC members present at the meeting with the exception of Mr Sharath Kamal had recommended a renegotiation of the remuneration fixed for the CEO citing the reasons of lack of funding at the IOA You would have noticed that the remuneration was reduced by over 3037 of the earlier agreed pay Iyer was appointed IOA CEO a year after it was due and following repeated reminders from the International Olympic Committee IOC The CEO will be an exofficio member of the Executive Council without voting rights He is not an elected member but a salaried official Iyer had also served as CEO of IPL side Rising Pune SupergiantsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever