HI, IHF to merge temporarily

In a positive development for Indian hockey, the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) and Hockey India (HI) resolved their differences and decided to merge.

New Delhi: Served with an ultimatum to merge or face consequences, the warring Hockey India and Indian

Hockey Federation today agreed to jointly work together under a temporary arrangement for the betterment of the game without forming a unified body. After a marathon eight and half hour-long meeting among HI, IHF and Sports Ministry officials, it was agreed that the two bodies will work under an arrangement which will continue till December 2012. However, there was no merger between the two bodies. In what is being interpreted as a breakthrough of sorts, the two factions agreed to jointly work on four aspects -- organising National Championships, preparation of national teams and selection of national teams and participation in international tournaments. Under the arrangement, there will be a joint Executive Committee of 39 members and a joint Working Committee of eight members which will take the final decision. HI will have 20 members in the 39-member Executive Committee while the remaining 19 will be from the IHF. "The decisions will be taken by the Working Committee which will have eight members -- four each from HI and IHF. There will be a chairman and co-chairman of the working committee, one each from HI and IHF. The chairman and the co-chairman will have equal powers," HI`s General Secretary Narendra Batra said. Since HI is the recognised body by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), it will be responsible for any communication to the world body after a decision is taken by the joint Working Committee. IHF President R K Shetty and Batra jointly addressed the media, saying that they were happy with the discussions and the arrangements. "The discussions were fruitful. We expect a robust administration now with both bodies coming together on core issues," Shetty said. "Me and Batra are hopeful. We hope we will have a good working relationship during this period and contribute to the development of hockey," he said. "We are also grateful to the Sports Ministry and the minister for the efforts they have put in," Shetty said. Batra, on his part, said that neither HI nor IHF will be responsible for the contractual obligations of the other party. "We all have to make adjustments and I believe if we are honest in our intentions we will be able to do good work. The main modality of the arrangement is that HI`s contractual obligations on any matter, financial or otherwise, will not lie on the IHF. It is vice versa for IHF," Batra said. Sports Ministry had called a meeting today with the ultimatum that the two warring bodies either merge or it will take its own decision and inform the Supreme Court accordingly. The two bodies had several rounds of meetings in the past few months but had failed to come to an agreement on the merger issue. According to minutes of the meeting, it was also agreed that the name of HI would be suitably changed to "Bharat Hockey", "Hockey Bharat" or "India Hockey" or any other mutually agreed name. As the broad arrangement, both IHF and HI shall continue to be separate legal entities under the proposed arrangement but this would not prevent them from exploring the possibility of forming a confederation or opting for amalgamation at a later date on the mutual consent. Regarding the proposed World Series Hockey League, HI confirmed that they shall not impose any restriction on the participation of players who were contracted before 1.4.2011 in the proposed league being organised by IHF. However, this will be subjected to training schedule for the national camps and duration for which players can be spared for such participation. Also according to the minutes of the meeting, the arrangement shall not in any manner interfere with the separate legal existence and contractual commitments and statutory liabilities of either party. The Ministry also made it clear that they shall grant provisional recognition to HI as National Sports federation and maintain status Quo in respect of the recognition of IHF as National Sport Federation for Hockey up to 31.12.2012 subject to meeting the following conditions after which the government shall review the position and decide further on the basis of Government guidelines. PTI