Rajya Sabha members accuse Gill of misinforming IOC

New Delhi: Contradicting claims made by Sports Minister M S Gill, Rajya Sabha members Wednesday said they never asked the ministry to limit the tenures of the office bearers of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the National Sports Federations (NSFs).

In a letter to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary-general Randhir Singh, four MPs from the upper house - Tarlochan Singh, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Bhubaneshwar Kalita and Birender Prasad Baishya - questioned Gill on his letter to the International Olympic Council (IOC), which reportedly said that Rajya Sabha members had asked the ministry to limit the age and tenure of sports officials. “There was a discussion in the house on the budget demands of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on April 22, 2010. We would like to inform you that neither there was proposal or motion before the house nor was its approval sought to restrict either the age limit or tenure of office bearers and executive of the IOA or NSFs,” the letter said. The MPs also said that as many as 21 members of the house took part in the discussion and a majority of members spoke against the controversies in the Indian Premier League (IPL). “Only two (members) did mention that there may be some regulatory provisons for sports bodies. There was no mention against the IOA or any other particular NSFs. Even in his response to the discussions, the minister of sports made no mention of age limit or tenure of office-bearers of either IOA or NSF,” the letter said. “In fact, he never dropped a hint of the ministry`s plan to revive the 1975 guidelines. As members of the Rajya Sabha we are surprised that the minister of sports have wrongly informed the IOC,” the letter said. IANS