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After the Indian Sports Ministry suspended the Wrestling Federation of India last year, in a new move the government body has now suspended the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI). This decision by the Sports Ministry comes after the PCI failed to conduct elections for its new Executive Committee with the set timeframe, breaching its charter as well as the national Sports Code.
Moreover, the suspension of PCI, which is headed by Deepa Malik, India’s first female para-athlete to win a medal at Paralympics in Rio 2016, was revoked due to irregularities concerning election scheduling and adherence to regulatory frameworks. The ministry informed that the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) about the derecognition of the PCI and formation of an ad-hoc body.
The suspension implies that the Indian para-athletes will not be allowed to enter any IPC-sanctioned competition, including the Paralympics Games in Paris under the national flag. In the letter addressed to the PCI on its suspension, the Indian Sports Ministry added, “ … whereas taking note of the intentional delay by the PCI to elect a new executive committee, vis a vis the essentially of upholding good governance and accountability standards in sports federation nationwide and the requirements of all the national sports federations, National Olympic Committee (NOC) and National Paralympic Committee (NPC) to adhere strictly to the sports code, the government is left with no choice but to suspend the recognition of PCI with immediate effect till further orders.”
It is to be noted that the elections for the new Executive Committee should have been held before the expiry term. But the PCI in a notice dated 22.01.2024 announced that the elections will be held on 28.03.2024 in Bengaluru, which falls two months later after the expiry term. The Sports Ministry in their statement said that the decision to hold the elections on March 28 was “intentional call without any valid reason”.
“Whereas the PCI was well aware of the fact that the term of the Executive Committee was only up to 31.01.2024, its decision to hold the election on 28.04.2024 is willful, intentional and without any valid reason. Such failure undermines the democratic process and the principles of good governance as mandated under the National Sports Development Code of India,” the Sports Ministry wrote in its statement.