The International Hockey Federation on Friday dismissed Indian Olympic Association vice president Sudhansh Mittal’s complaint, questioning the eligibility of Dr narinder Batra as FIH’s president stating he committed no breach of procedure.
A tussle for control of IOA has been going on for quite sometime between president Batra and secretary Rajiv Mehta. As part of those internal squabbles, Mittal had questioned Batra’s election to the top post at IOA and also his eligibility to get elected as FIH president.
“The FIH Disciplinary Commissioner Gordon Nurse received on 8 June a complaint lodged by Indian Olympic Association Vice-President Sudhanshu Mittal against FIH President Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra, questioning the eligibility of Dr Batra as FIH President,” an FIH statement quoting indepedent Integrity Unit chairman Wayne Snell said.
“In compliance with the applicable FIH procedure, this complaint was forwarded to the independent FIH Integrity Unit (FIU), which today decided that it will not be taking any action regarding FIH President Dr Batra in relation to this matter on the basis that the matter is not sustained. Indeed, according to the FIH Statutes at the time, there was no requirement for Dr Batra to change his relationship with Hockey India after his election as FIH President in November 2016. He therefore committed no breach of the procedure or the FIH Statutes,” the statement added.
Batra had denied flouting any rules while becoming President of IOA and FIH as he reached out to International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach.