Those seeking positions in the Indian Golf Union do not stop springing surprises. No, not with a desire to groom golfers from the grassroots level or an eagerness to enhance knowledge of golf coaches in the country, but in outdoing career sports administrators of yore in going any lengths to retain seats in the Governing Council.
Sample this: IGU President-aspirant Lt. Gen. Devaraj Anbu (retd.) has moved from representing Delhi on November 22 to Jammu and Kashmir. He attended the November 22 meeting as a Delhi Golf Society representative while the electoral college for the December 27 election, finalised on Sunday, shows him as a North Star Golf Association Jammu & Kashmir representative.
The IGU Memorandum of Association stipulates that each State Golf Association shall nominate two of their members as representatives, both for the candidature for elections to the Council as also representatives who will exercise vote at the elections of the Council during the Annual General Meeting.
It seems amazing that someone can move membership from one State to another in the span of three weeks and be nominated to not just represent the new State Association but also stand for elections. At a time when the sporting world is demanding contemporary leadership methods, such an adroit translocation is a throwback to a decayed past.
Even a cursory glance at the electoral college will tell us that some are based in one State are representing another in the Indian Golf Union elections. The Delhi-based Lt Gen Harpal Singh, who contested the Rowing Federation of India elections from Uttarakhand, is representing Arunachal Pradesh in the IGU elections.
Col. R Balasuramaniam has secured the Nagaland Golf Association’s approval to represent it despite being based in Delhi and being designated by the Supreme Court as a Senior Advocate. Similarly, Shyam Sundar, who lives in Coimbatore and has probably never stepped on Rajasthan soil, will represent Rajasthan in the December 27 meeting.
The only lady on the 54-member electoral college, who is based in Noida and has served as Lady Captain of the Army Golf Club in Delhi, will represent Maharashtra Golf Association while golf-rich States like Karnataka and Haryana have not found a place in the electoral college.
The surprises do not end there.
The Secretary-General aspirant, Lt. Gen. Asit Mistry, who took over as Commandant of the National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, in February this year continues to represent the Madhya Prant Golf Association (wonder what State is that in the Indian political map) and not either Maharashtra or his home State, Gujarat.
What is not surprising is that as many as 23 of the 54 persons nominated to be on the electoral college by the ‘State’ Associations are either serving Army officers or have recently retired from the Indian Army. One officer is from the Indian Navy, taking the tally of officers from the armed forces to 24, just short of the 50 per cent mark in the Electoral College.
There are five officers of the Lieutenants General, two Major Generals, two Brigadiers, seven Colonels, four Lieutenant Colonels, one Major and three Captains besides a Naval Commodore in the electoral college. Quite surprisingly, three Brigadiers who attended the meeting on November 22 have not found favour with their State Associations and are not part of the electoral college.
It is just as curious that the one man who, on November 23, spoke against starting the elections from scratch is not part of the Electoral College. For some reason, being more loyal than the king has not paid the Lieutenant General dividends. But then, he is not the only one who attended the November 22-23 meeting and will not be a part of the December 27 meeting to elect the Council.
Did the State Associations have time to call for an AGM – with reasonable notice – to be able to make nominations to the electoral college of the Indian Golf Union elections for the Governing Council for the term 2020-22? Even for organisations which exist only on paper, it would be a tough ask to have followed basic process after the November 23 decision to call for fresh polls.
Another question remains to be asked – and is very necessary. Given that two aspirants of the three key office-bearers appended the term ‘Acting’ before their positions, it will be of interest to see if the returning office will deem their time as a term in office, especially since the IGU Memorandum of Association does not provide for any office-bearer to be an ‘Acting’ office-bearer.
When he persuaded IGU to scrap the 2018 elections, returning officer Justice (retd.) RK Gauba said he would deal with issues of tenure of office-bearers, who have been holding positions without being elected, at an appropriate time. It will not be long before he will adjudicate claims that the time spent as ‘acting’ office-bearers should not be counted as a term as defined by the constitution.
There was a concerted attempt to convince the, Justice (retd.) RK Gauba, that the electoral college must be restricted to the representatives of 17 members who were on the IGU rolls as of December 2016. But, after holding an Open House on December 11, he over-ruled objections that the right rules were not followed when 11 ‘State Golf Associations’ were accorded membership in 2018.
However, Justice Gauba decided that Sone Ganga Golf Association (Bihar) would be kept out of the election process since the current election process is in continuation of the now-abandoned election of 2018. The truth, which may have been kept from him, could be that Sone Ganga Golf Association was granted IGU membership before it was registered as a society.
On November 23, he said calling for fresh nominations would help IGU rid of doubts about tenure of the elected body besides rendering the election current and updated in democratic spirit and representing contemporary opinion. Nowhere was it mentioned that the December 27, 2020 elections would be a continuation of the 2018 process.
It remains to be seen how the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as well as the Indian Olympic Association view the December 27 election and whether they will depute any observers.
It is a well researched article and puts forth many points that aggrieved and mistreated associations would like to.
Thanks for the insight….hopefully the Ministry, the Countrymen, all are listening. Where is the governance?
There’s rot!
There’s a need to remove it if we want the sport to flourish and to reach the aspirants at the grassroots levels. I hope those who can stem the rot are alive to the situation and act.
Now is the time!
This article provides much needed insight. Will the Ministry and IOA allow such manipulation? We should not allow the future of the game to be jeopardised.
Has anyone bothered to check if the so called State Association of many States do exist on the ground and has done any golfing activities since their formation. I wish Ministry of Sports should get these facts before taking cognizance of the so called election.