Indian basketball: A dream gone sour !

The rigid stand of the Chief Executive Officer of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), Roopam Sharma, has further strengthened the division of Indian basketball.

The blame is being pinned on the CEO, even though two parties are pulling the federation in two opposite directions, as it was she who has gone on to hijack the powers of the federation after it was agreed by the senior members of the federation to have the Annual General Meeting in Bengaluru on March 27.

Interestingly, there is a note prepared by the secretary general, Ajay Sud, in which all the eight officials, including the CEO and deputy CEO, Prem Pal, have signed, agreeing to the original venue and date.

President RS Gill, K. Govindaraj, Teja Singh Dhaliwal, Ajay Sud, Dr. DR Saini and Ashok Rangeen were the other members who were party to the decision taken at the meeting on February 26, in Delhi.

''The meeting was chaired by Sh. RS Gill, President, Basketball Federation of India. Sh. RS Gill requested all members present to work together to form a new body, for which elections are due in March 2015. After a detailed discussion, it was resolved that the meeting will be held at Bangaluru on 27^th March 2015'', reads the note signed by the secretary general, which has been endorsed by all the eight senior members of BFI with their signature..

With two venues for the AGM in Bengaluru and Pune, on two dates March 27 and 28, there are two sets of documents, including the electoral college, which has caused considerable anguish in some quarters.

The electoral college, as published by the CEO on the BFI website has 62 names, whereas the one issued by the President has only 44. The rest of the names had apparently been sent only to the BFI office. Moreover, the president had restricted the nominations by the state units only to ''elected members of the respective association''.

Actually, the CEO has pleaded with the president in a letter dated March 11, seeking to correct the validity of nominations, requesting him to ''kindly circulate the revised notification in this regards to all affiliated units urgently''.

There is a strong communication from the general secretary of the Assam Basketball Association, Mukut Medhi, a vice president of BFI, written a week later, suggesting ''ulterior motive'' by the president and his ''cohorts''.

''Your arbitrary actions/decisions are bound to create friction among the members and divide BFI further. They are definitely not in the interest of BFI, nor the sport that we endeavour to promote. This also sends a wrong signal to our partners, IMG Reliance, who are the major source of our finance'', writes Medhi, in his letter to the president.

Well, the finance from IMG Reliance, to the tune of a few crore rupees every year, is already a dream gone sour for the players, even though millions are being spent in conducting the various national championships and national camps from the fund.

The former secretary general Harish Sharma for whom the post of CEO was formed after he had completed two terms, had announced the distribution of about 36 lakh rupees to the players, including juniors, and coaches, in January 2011. The graded payment with the leading players getting Rs.30,000 per month, the second line, Rs.20,000 and the juniors Rs.10,000 was awarded in retrospective effect from October 2010, during the presentation ceremony of the national championship in Delhi.

However, as one player put it succinctly, the payments to the players was stopped abruptly, ''when Harish Sharma was hospitalised''.

The much loved Harish who single-mindedly strove for the welfare of the players died of tuberculosis in brain in February 2012. His wife Roopam was requested, by the BFI president RS Gill and his team, to take charge of the post of CEO in March 2012. The steering committee's decision to draft her was ratified by the AGM then.

Roopam on her part, promised to uphold the high standards set by her husband in promoting the game, when she took charge as the CEO.

Much in contrast, months later, it was decided to abolish the posts of CEO and deputy CEO by the BFI, and part of the current power struggle has been triggered by such an attempt. The basic friction at this stage is caused by the move of the president to amend the Constitution of the federation, to bring it back to its original form.

Otherwise, it is difficult to fathom the reluctance of the CEO to take over the reins of the federation as the secretary general. In fact, the Gill faction has kept the post of secretary general still open for Roopam, even though she has other designs.

She may not take a salary from BFI, as Roopam is working in Indian Airlines, but it is felt that there is a lot of expenses on the CEO, running into a few lakh rupees every year, and the deputy CEO who is also paid a handsome salary apart from perks.

In trying to extend a strong support for Harish Sharma, the BFI had inadvertently bequeathed a lot of powers to the present CEO. If you ask for trouble, you invariably get it.

Even though the Union government has responded to the request of BFI for an observer for the election, ''to be held in Pune'', it has addressed the communication to the secretary general. The government generally deals only with the secretary general or the president. The position of CEO is a rare new phenomenon in some sports federations. Looking at the present development, the idea of CEO may not find much favour, owing to the considerable complications, even though it opens new avenues for people to hold on to power.

On the other hand, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has taken note of the meeting in Pune, and written back to the CEO, even though Gill and his team are persuading the concerned parties to realise that they alone have the Constitutional authority to conduct the AGM and the related meetings, in Bengaluru.

The plot should thicken soon, as it is almost time to finalise the nominations for various posts. It is surprising why nobody has taken the matter to court as yet.

Maybe, it is because Indian basketball has temporarily stopped being played on a court with distinct lines.

There is no doubt that Indian basketball is indeed a dream gone sour !