AITA EC may move court against Govt directive on Prez election

New Delhi: Backing the election of its President Anil Khanna, the AITA executive committee on Thursday refused to abide by the government directive on re-election and adopted a resolution that it will move court if the sports ministry persists with the order.

At the meeting on Thursday Khanna said that he had offered his resignation to the government but the members asked him to continue.

"We don't want to look like a weak body. We are going to write to the ministry one final time about our stand on the matter. If they still want us to remove the President, then we will move court," AITA Secretary General Bharat Oza told PTI.

"The government is not interpreting the sports code in correct manner. Even IOA does not feel that their interpretation is correct. Let the court decide what is the correct interpretation of the code," said EC member Anil Dhupar, adding that "the government can't interfere in the matters of an autonomous body".

Oza said the government is not implementing all the clauses of the sports policy and is conveniently picking clauses to target a few people.

"There is a policy that two-third majority is required if a secretary or a treasurer seeks a second term. But is it being followed. If that happens more than 50, 60 federations will be derecognised," he said.

Another EC member said that now government is also interfering in selection matters which was not acceptable.

"How can they issue directions to choose partners for Olympic Games. They are forgetting that we have a selection committee and can't dictate on these matters," the member said.