CWG scam: Everyone's 'family' in OC-Sep 29, 2010

CWG scam: Everyone's 'family' in OC

Josy Joseph, TNN, Sep 29, 2010, 02.41am IST


Tags:oc|nepotism|family members|cwg
NEW DELHI: Sifting through the list of employees on the rolls of the CWG Organizing Committee is a challenging task. But if you are looking for talent, the attributes you are not likely to find are professionalism and aptitude. Many of OC's personnel are rank unknowns with poor qualifications to hold the jobs they do, having been selected on the basis of being wives, children, nephews and relatives of persons who run Indian sport.

Some are of questionable integrity even as nepotism seems to be the obvious aspect of many appointments. Over the past four years, the OC brass has leveraged the plethora of positions to hand out sops to those who can have a role in their future as sports administrators. So office bearers of various sports federations — their votes are crucial for Kalmadi's election as president of Indian Olympic Association — are among the biggest beneficiaries of OC's largesse.

V K Verma, director general at the OC, is president of the Badminton Association of India. He is a former Air India director who faced a vigilance inquiry. There are a host of others from various games federations, all drawing handsome salaries and perks from the OC.

The OC has not limited its largesse to sports federations. Some OC functionaries raise questions about key men running the show — R K Sacheti and N P Singh — joint directors general looking after coordination and workforce. While Singh is from the government's grade B services, Sacheti's work experience is hardly known. The common factor is that the two are known for their proximity to Kalmadi.

There are others whose proximity to Kalmadi or secretary general Lalit Bhanot seems to have helped them find appointments with OC. In at least two instances, the sports ministry had raised objections in view of unclear qualifications. One was Sacheti, the other Sangeeta Wellinkar, additional director general (image and look). Wellinkar's son was working with OC until last month, while sources say her sister, Nishiganda Mathur, is a paid consultant with OC.

A large number of those who worked with the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune have moved in to join the OC. While this could be taken as a positive sign of expertise being utilized, many are at levels much senior to their experience. Many have also managed arbitrary promotions after moving to OC, sources say.

There is Group Captain K U K Reddy, who joined the finance and accounts division as director, and has managed two promotions to become additional director general. J N Mittal, a chartered accountant who joined as deputy director general in the same department and was senior to Reddy, is now junior to the former air force officer. Reddy is known to be close to Kalmadi.