New Delhi:
If the country can have a Prime Minister above 70 then what is wrong in having National Sports Federation chiefs of similar age, asked Archery Association of India President Vijay Kumar Malhotra reacting sharply to the Delhi High Court's decision which limits NSF heads' tenure.
"If for good governance age below 70 is required then I would like to point out that our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is running the country at the age of 76. Even the Sports Minister of India MS Gill himself is above 70. So, if these people leave the post for good governance, then we will also leave," Malhotra said.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Deepak Misra gave the direction to the Centre to implement its policy, under which the upper age limit for the heads of sports federations has been fixed at 70 years while turning down the plea of five federations seeking a stay on the government policy.
The Centre had, on May 1, come out with the guidelines under which the upper age limit was fixed at 70 years and the head of a sporting body was allowed to continue on the post for a maximum of three terms.
Challenging the policy, different sporting bodies had approached the court seeking a restrain on implementation of the government policy.
The court, however, refused to grant any relief and declined to stay the government order.