POA amends constitution to extend tenure, retirement age

KARACHI: Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) has made key amendments in its constitution to extend the tenure and retirement age of its office bearers.

It has been learnt that POA convened a special meeting on December 1 in which it made amendments in its constitution to extend the tenure of the current management till Olympics Games 2024.

Another amendment was made to extend the retirement age of its office bearers from current 70 years to 75 years.

“The tenure of the current POA management expired on November 25, 2023, hence they amended the constitution to extend it till Olympics Games this year,” said a source while talking to ‘The News’.

The source added that the have added a provision allowing the association to hold its elections in the same year (till December 31st) when Olympics Games are held after four years.

Also, the source added, another amendment was made to extend the retirement age of its office bearers to 75 years which was a violation of the article 3.3 of International Olympic Committee which restricts the retirement age to 70 years.

When contacted, Secretary General POA Khalid Mehmood confirmed that they made amendments in the constitution but with the approval of IOC.

“Yes, we have extended the holding of elections till this year’s Olympics Games with the approval from the IOC while the retirement age of the office bearers has also been extended till 75 years,” said Khalid. He reasoned that holding POA elections immediately after Olympics Games after four years will allow the new management to perform well with better focus on the preparations for the next Olympics.

However, this did not go well with local sports fraternity and they termed it a violation of national sports policy and IOC Charter.

“Not only were the said meeting and its proceedings illegal but POA’s functioning now is also against the spirit of IOC charter and the law of the land,” said former National Champion and SAF Games silver medalist Dr Hafiz Zafar Iqbal while talking to this scribe.

He added that despite being a legal entity and bound by the manifest provisions of the PSB Constitution of 2022 and National Sports Policy 2015, obligated to respect commitments of IOC Memorandum/Lausanne Agreement dated 19 Jun 2014 and judgment of the Supreme Court in PSB v. Pakistan Volleyball Federation (2012 SCMR 992), POA frustrated and violated manifest aspects and provisions of the same.

“I request Minister IPC (President PSB) Fawad Hasan Fawad to implement relevant provisions of the Constitution of PSB, order an inquiry and constitute an interim committee to run affairs of POA until its free and fair elections are held, through a legitimate electoral roll,” said Zafar.