Army brass may be forced to look at barring serving officers for risking losses
The Indian Golf Union has rebuffed attempts by army officers, serving and retired, to retain control of the country’s apex golf body. Lt. Gen. Devraj Anbu (retd.) and Lt. Gen. Asit Mistry (retd.), who sought to continue in office as President and Secretary-General, faced defeat at the hands of Brijdender Singh and Harish Shetty respectively.
Lt. Gen. Rana Pratap Kalita, General Officer Commanding in Chief, Eastern Command, Lt. Gen. Basant Kumar Repswal, Commandant, ASC Centre and Corps, and Lt. Gen. Dhiraj Seth, General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area, are the serving officers whose bid to get elected as IGU Executive Council members was derailed.
IGU Governing Council 2022-24
President: Brijender Singh (Maharashtra)
Vice President: Farzan Heerjee (Jharkhand)
Secretary-General: Harish Shetty (Karnataka)
Treasurer: Sanjeev Rattan (Uttar Pradesh)
Executive Council Members: SK Sharma (Chandigarh), Simarjeet Singh (Uttar Pradesh), M Jayant Tagore (Telangana), Navita Mansingh (Haryana), Shashank B Sandu (Maharashtra), Shyam Sundar (Rajasthan), Gaurav Bajaj (Meghalaya), Nagesh Singh (Assam) and Sundeep Verma (Haryana).
That these collective and major losses came after the officers, serving and retired, tried every trick in the book to retain control of many a State Association to show that they were compliant with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011. Some did not hesitate to change states at the drop of a hat (read when the Returning Officer did not accord the right to vote).
This has come to be seen as a major development in Indian sports governance. For years, army officers have retained control over the Golf, Equestrian and Polo federations while officers of the Indian Navy have dominated the Yachting Association of India. The IGU election, results of which are not yet posted on the website, could well be a huge milestone, if not a millstone.
For, it is not the first setback for serving army officers in matters of National Sports Federations. The Delhi High Court ordered Lt. Gen. SS Mishra and Lt. Gen. MKS Yadav not to act as EFI President and Vice President (Administration) respectively. Surely, these should be enough for the Army brass to consider barring serving officers from losing face.
The desperation of some Army officers to cling to power can be sensed from the then EFI President Lt. Gen. Ashok Ambre’s remarks at EFI’s January 2019 Executive Committee meet. “The EFI is alive due to the contribution of the Army… Some people have the concept that if the EFI goes to the civilian counterparts, it will run without any glitches, but they are wrong.”
Be that as it may, it will be up to the newly elected Governing Council to ensure that it complies with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011 in letter and spirit. To begin with, it can facilitate the formation of the Athletes Commission and ensure greater participation of women in the governance of the sport.
And yes, it can call for an independent audit of the status of all State Associations. It will usher in greater transparency and guarantee better governance at the State level. In doing that, IGU must give up the need for golf clubs and courses to be registered with it rather than with the respective State Associations.
