New Delhi: Former Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Narinder Batra on Monday resigned from the post of International Hockey Federation (FIH) president, thus relinquishing all three top posts — IOA chief, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and FIH head — he was holding.
In a letter to the executive board of the FIH, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the 65-year-old businessman-cum-sports administrator, said on Monday, “Due to personal reasons, I submit my resignation from the post of president, FIH. Thank you for your support and guidance.”
Batra, who had ceased to be the IOA chief when the Delhi High Court on May 25, struck down the post of ‘Life Member’ in Hockey India (HI), on which he had contested the IOA polls in 2017 and won, also resigned from his post of IOC member on Monday.
In his letter to the IOC president in Lausanne, Batra again cited personal reasons for stepping down from the post.
“Due to personal reasons, I submit my resignation from the post of IOC member,” the former Hockey India boss said.
While he had ceased to be president of the IOA on May 25, he also wrote a letter to the IOA secretary-general on Monday saying he was resigning from the post of president.
Earlier this month, the Delhi High Court had refused to stay an order which had directed Batra to step down from his post of IOA chief.
“No, we are not staying it. Only on a technical issue, we have issued a notice,” a division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said while issuing notices to the respondents, the Centre, and petitioner, former hockey player Aslam Sher Khan.
The bench was hearing the appeal moved by Batra challenging the June 24 order, in which he was restrained from holding the post of IOA president.
Aslam Sher Khan, who was a part of the World Cup-winning India team of 1975, had approached the court with a contempt petition against Batra, following non-compliance of an earlier court order on Khan’s plea seeking to quash certain articles of the Hockey India MOA whereby the posts of ‘Life Member’, ‘CEO’ and ‘Life President’ have been created, in blatant contravention of the National Sports Code of India (NSC), Circular 1975 and 2001 Guidelines.
(IANS)
