New Delhi, August 2
Stung by the CAG criticism of the PMO, the government today hit back seeking to shift the blame on the NDA government for the appointment of Suresh Kalmadi as chairman of the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.

Making a statement in the Lok Sabha first and outside later on the leaked report of the CAG report, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said the previous NDA government had signed the Host City contract, instead of the Delhi Government and that was the source of all the problems that followed later.

Maken stated the CWG bid document was changed to facilitate the appointment of Kalmadi as the OC chief.

He said the original bid document had provided for a “Government appointee” as the chairman of the Executive Board of the Organising Committee, with the vice-chairman being the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president. “However, the bid document was inexplicably changed to delete the words ‘Government appointee’ in respect of the chairman,” he said. Maken elaborated that the Host City Contract, which was signed by the then Secretary (Sports), Government of India, and approved by the Cabinet of the NDA Government, should ideally have been signed and approved by the Secretary, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), and approved by the Cabinet of the GNCTD, respectively, as has been the practice with other international sporting events, including the forthcoming London Olympics (2012).

“By not doing so, the Host City Contract effectively became the Host Country contract. In the process, while it committed the Central Government to all financial and infrastructure obligations vis-a-vis the Games, it, in one stroke, also took away from the Government of India any residual amending or discretionary powers, that could have been exercised in emergent situations to salvage any wrongdoings,” he added.

Maken said the Host City Contract with protocols and regulations, unalterably conceding supremacy to the Commonwealth Games Federation and the IOA, over all matters pertaining to the constitution of the OC and financing of the Games, was circulated in the Cabinet meeting on September 10, 2003 and was approved by the Cabinet on September 11.

“This contract with protocols, which also made the CGF owner of the Games, was not scrutinised and thoroughly verified. Any viable alternative to the provisions were neither explored nor suggested,” he added.

Maken stressed that even though bidding for multi-sport mega-events is done by the National Olympic Committee (in the case of the CWG, by IOA), the organisation of the Games after successful bidding could and should have been entrusted to an accountable and responsible Government body through proper provisions by amendments in the Host City Contract and the Games Management Protocols.

The minister asserted that the then (NDA) Union Government should have enabled the GNCTD (headed by the Congress) to sign the contract. “However, the Government of India directly stepped in to provide the letter of support for the bid to host CWG 2010 in Delhi, and to meet the deficit between revenue and expenditure fully, without any budgetary constraint. Thus, the Government of India consequently became jointly and separately responsible for all commitments, including without limitation, financial commitment relating to the organisation and staging of the Games,” he explained.

Maken said apart from the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax authorities were also investigating a plethora of alleged irregularities.

The Central Vigilance Commission was examining various complaints regarding the Games, and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India had submitted his report on the Games and Games-related expenditure.