Acting on a CBI complaint about interference in the probe into alleged irregularities in the Commonwealth Games,newly appointed Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs Ajay Maken today sacked Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi and general secretary Lalit Bhanot. The Indian Express had first reported on December 15 that the CBI had asked Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar to move out Kalmadi and Bhanot at the earliest since they were obstructing the probe. And on January 12,The Indian Express reported that the Attorney General had told the Sports Ministry that the government was within its rights to remove Kalmadi as OC chairman. After the Cabinet Secretariat forwarded the CBI complaint to the Ministry,it was referred to the Attorney General for opinion. The Ministry got the AGs opinion on January 14,but Makens predecessor,M S Gill,sat over it for the next one week,it was reliably learnt. Shortly after Maken took over,he sought a fresh opinion from the AG which came this morning. Within hours,he issued orders sacking Kalmadi and Bhanot. Sports Ministry officials said OC Chief Executive Officer Jarnail Singh,who used to be in the Prime Ministers Office during Atal Behari Vajpayees tenure,had been given charge of the duties of Kalmadi and Bhanot. In light of the ongoing investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation over allegations of corruption and irregularities in organization and conduct of Commonwealth Games,2010 and the concerns expressed by the CBI and in the interest of impartial and unhindered investigations,it has been decided to remove Suresh Kalmadi from the position of the Chairman of the Organizing Committee,CWG,Delhi,2010 and the position of Chairman,Executive Board of the organizing,CWG,2010 with immediate effect, Maken said in a press release. He also decided to remove Bhanot from the position of Secretary General of the OC and from the position of Secretary General,Executive Board of the OC with immediate effect with directions to hand over charge to the CEO until further orders. The CBI had asked in the interest of investigations that they should be removed. Now we have asked OC to thoroughly verify the works done and make all legitimate payments,especially to vendors from foreign countries. I have given a time frame of 10 days for this,which lapses on January 31, Maken told The Indian Express today. There are as many as 45 vendors awaiting payments. All legitimate claims have to be settled. It was,therefore,all the more important that Kalmadi and Bhanot should not be there. Let us clean up the system and move ahead as far as OC and CWG is concerned, Maken said. Immediately after the Games,a Group of Ministers had decided that it would be the Ministry of Sports which will decide when the term of the OC should end. Officials handling the CWG probe said the presence of Kalmadi and Bhanot in the OC headquarters was definitely impeding investigations. We are at a stage now when we need to understand how decisions were taken in the OC when it was first formed and when several serving and retired bureaucrats joined it, a probe officer told The Indian Express. Several fresh CWG cases are yet to be filed and the flow of information and documents from the OC headquarters has been far from satisfactory. OC officials continue to hesitate sharing information with us till the Chairman and Secretary General are sitting there. The CBI has already booked four FIRs in CWG-related cases. On November 15,the CBI booked two FIRs for the contracting of AM Films and cars/vans for the Queens Baton Relay ceremonies by the OC in London and even arrested Joint Director General T S Darbari and Deputy Director General Sanjay Mohindroo for their alleged complicity in these deals. With the CBI failing to file a chargesheet,they were released on bail. The CBI is now understood to be actively examining what the Central Vigilance Commission,in its own inquiry,had described as criminal breach in the award of Rs 668-crore contracts for supply of CWG overlays.
