NSC Member Secretary Yuvaraj Lama held a meeting with the NOC President Pradhan on Monday at his office and informed that the NSC will cooperate with Pradhan-committee in future.[break]
Lama took the decision to recognize Pradhan-committee as he received a letter last week from IOC, which reiterated that there is only one NOC recognized by the IOC and that is none other than the one led by Pradhan. Lama had sent a letter to IOC last month informing it about the existence of two NOCs in the country.
He mentioned in the letter the October 4, 2010 verdict of the Supreme Court of Nepal that gave a legitimate status to NOC headed by Rukma Shamsher Rana.
“Sports associations should follow Olympic Charter and respect their rules. Probably, then NSC leadership didn´t write the Supreme Court clearly about the governing system of sports,” said Lama after the Monday´s meeting with Pradhan. “We respect the Supreme Court verdict but there are international rules and regulations too. We can´t bypass them,” he added.
Lama also said that the Rana-committee could not maintain the Olympic Charter. “The committee seeks NOC status, but it is not following Olympic Charter. There are no sports associations under the committee that is authorized by NSC and even international sports bodies do not recognize them,” said Lama.
Lama claimed that his steps to recognize Pradhan-committee came as a compulsion since IOC clearly wrote in its letter that no other entity than the IOC is entitled to recognize a national Olympic committee.
Meanwhile, NOC President Pradhan said that the current steps of NSC should be taken as a practical solution. “We respect legal decisions, but it can´t solve all the problems. We were bound to solve this dispute through practical decisions,” said Pradhan.
He also said that NOC will run Olympic movement in Nepal joining hands with government agencies.
NSC board, led by then Member Secretary Hari Babu Chaudhary, had recognized NOC led by Rana stating that they would respect the Supreme Court verdict.
Chaudhary had also inaugurated the office of the Rana-led NOC at Sitapaila, Kathmandu on December last year.
Current NSC Member Secretary Lama was also reiterating the same stance until he received the letter from IOC.
Meanwhile, vice-president of the Rana-committee Kishor Bahadur Singh said that the NSC move mocks the rule of law. "We had chosen legal way and we´ll follow the same in future," said Singh.
"How could a member secretary consider IOC Charter superior than law of the land?" said Singh questioning Member Secretary Lama´s move.
He said Lama´s comments amount to contempt of court. "He is arguing about IOC´s letter, but such letters were already produced in the Supreme Court hearing in the past. How could NSC ignore this fact?" asked Singh.
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