Will appoint neutral person to handle day-to-day affairs at Indian Olympic Association till polls held: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would a appoint a neutral person to handle the day-to-affairs of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), currently in a spat with the International Olympic Committee over the former's delayed elections and interim administrative body [Indian Olympic Association vs Union of India and ors]..A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli took the suggestion of Solicitor General Tushar (SG) Mehta in this regard, and asked the Secretary of the Union Sports Ministry to communicate the same to the IOC 'so that a solution which will be in the interest of sports in India and accord with the position of the IOC can be facilitated.'The SG also suggested that a retired Supreme Court judge oversee the process of finalisation of the new IOA constitution, its electoral rolls and its pending polls. " ... We are trying to find a solution. A protem arrangement can be done till the constitution is finalised. ... Let the Sports Secretary coordinate with IOA so neither Mr Mehra or Batra (former IOA president) have to litigate. If we pass an order and then they say something to the contrary, it looks very bad," the Bench remarked. The Bench and other counsel agreed with advocate Rahul Mehra's contention that the process should not lead to a rival faction being in charge of affairs in the interim. The matter will be heard again on September 22, Thursday. .As per a report in The Hindu, the IOC had earlier this month issued a final warning to IOA to resolve its 'governance issues and hold the pending polls by December, or risk facing a ban. The executive board of the IOC that met in Lausanne recently took the decision to not recognise any acting or interim president, after former president Narinder Batra's ouster. The body stated that it would deal with the secretary general as its main point of contact..During the hearing on Monday, SG Mehta submitted that the IOC has no problem with the interim administrative body, the secretary general can also run the day-to-day affairs of the IOA as an interim measure. .The Supreme Court had last month ordered status quo with respect to the Delhi High Court judgment by which a Committee of Administrators (CoA) was appointed to handle the affairs of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) till the election of a new Executive Committee.The order was passed after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta made an urgent mentioning of the matter and said that handing over charge of IOA to a CoA will be considered as third-party interference by the international body, which will likely lead to a suspension from participating in olympic events. The Delhi High Court had on August 16 appointed a CoA comprising former Supreme Court judge, Justice Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Qureshi and former foreign secretary Vikas Swarup.A Division Bench of Justices Manmohan and Najmi Waziri had directed the erstwhile Executive Committee of the IOA to hand over the charge of the association to the CoA, which was also tasked with preparation and adoption of a new Constitution as per the Sports Code and court rulings and conduct of elections within 16 weeks.The High Court had also directed the Centre government not to grant recognition or any facility to the IOA or to any National Sports Federation (NSF) or any of its affiliated associations if they refuse to comply with the Sports Code as directed by the High Court.It further said that it is high time that structural reforms are implemented to remove the mismanagement in the sports bodies and to democratise these institutions.Read more about High Court judgment here..[Read order]