Indian Oympic Assn re-constitutes Ethics Committee

New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) Apparently under pressure from the International Olympic Committee and amid a continuing tug of war among its own members, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has re-constituted the Ethics Committee with a few additional judges within weeks of its controversial scrapping. The Ethics Committee and the Arbitration Commission, disbanded at the IOA Annual General Meeting on December 15, have been more or less retained with the addition of two judges in each of the panel, it is learnt. An official release on the new panels will be issued tomorrow, acting IOA President V K Malhotra told PTI. The development of reforming the committees came amid a raging internal feud between IOA Secretary General Randhir Singh and Senior vice-President Tarlochan Singh, who is said to belong to the pro-Suresh Kalmadi faction. Suresh Kalmadi was the president of IOA for about 15 years prior to his being sacked in April 2011 following his arrest on corruption charges with regard to the Indian hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New delhi. According to a senior member of the Randhir Singh faction, the decision to form the committees quickly was taken because of the fear that the IOA could be disbanded by the IOC. But this claim was strongly contested by the rival faction, which said that the committees formed earlier did not have the approval of the General Body and were therefore illegal. "We have only corrected the procedures and reformed the committee. There is no question of any threat hanging over our heads," he said. The internal feud in the IOA came out in the open when Randhir and Tarlochan engaged in a war of words over the scrapping of Ethics Committee. While Randhir Singh maintained that the IOA President V K Malhotra is fully authorised to form any committee, Tarlochan claimed that such a committee could not be formed without the approval of the general body. Tarlochan said he was in favour of Ethics Committee and Arbitration Commission but wanted the general body to be involved in the entire process. PTI