CEO's appointment causes rift within IOA

The Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) appointment of Raghuram Iyer as its chief executive officer has snowballed into a controversy with the majority of its executive committee members raising questions on "transparency" in the selection process.

In separate letters, the EC members have asked IOA president PT Usha to put Iyer's appointment on hold until their panel reviews it. On January 5, Usha announced Iyer's appointment following a "meticulous selection process conducted by the nomination committee". However, in the last few days 12 of IOA's 15 EC members have raised objections over Usha going ahead with the appointment without “ratification" by the IOA executive board.

“After the meeting of the nomination committee on December 5 where one candidate was proposed, an emergency meeting of EC was held on Jan 5, one month later without sharing proper details of the CEO probable candidates, which is lacking transparency and correct governance, apart from a one month delay," a letter signed by IOA treasurer Sahdev Yadav and four other EC members -- Alaknanda Ashok, Amitabh Sharma, Dola Banerjee and Bhupinder Singh Bajwa -- said.

“Hence the majority of the members during the EC meeting requested for details to be shared with all the members and then to convene an EC meeting on this specific subject so that a considerate and informed decision can be taken on the appointment of the CEO,” the members said.

"We request you to keep in abeyance any such arbitrary appointment without the ratification of the majority members of the EC,” they said on Tuesday.

In another letter on Jan 14, EC members said the negotiation of compensation for CEO -- ₹20 lakh per month plus allowances which takes the CTC to around ₹3 crore per annum -- was done “without any consultation with or decision by the EC".

The CEO appointment was a sticking point in IOA's functioning since the Usha-led panel came to power in December, 2022. As per the new IOA constitution, a CEO should have been appointed within two months, but it was delayed, leading to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sending several reminders asking IOA to make the appointment.

IOC has held back IOA's share of allocated funds for a National Olympic Committee till the CEO's appointment, as per officials aware of the developments.