BAI moves without annexing KBA

Stated non-adherence to constitutional amendment

Bangalore

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) has disaffiliated the Karnataka Badminton Association (KBA), saying the KBA is not committed to amending its constitution and bringing it into line with the BAI bylaws.

Controversial was the constitution of the KBA Executive Committee, in which the 19-member body consisted of 10 life members and nine district representatives, thus reducing the districts to a minority.

In February, Shalini Rajneesh, Additional Chief Secretary of Youth Empowerment and Sports in Karnataka, wrote to the Union Sports Ministry flagging this as an issue and flagged it as a violation of Clause 3.10 of the Sports Code, which asks at least 50. % District societies are affiliated to the state federation, which is affiliated to the national body.

The BAI, in March, asked the KBA to bring its constitution in line and gave it four months to do so, though it was unclear whether there would be more than 50% representation in the decision-making committees as well.

The KBA, on its part, tried to form a new organization called the Karnataka Badminton Association – Badminton Management Committee, which would exclusively deal with badminton related activities and implement the laws as desired. But this did not favor BAI.

No violation, the secretary said

“We have majority affiliation in 31 districts of Karnataka. So there was no violation,” KBA Secretary P. Rajesh Reddy said.

“Also, KBAs are a unique system. We are a member-run organization and members fund this organization. Their interests should also be protected.

“There are both badminton and non-badminton activities that the clubhouse deals with. So we tried to separate the two and create a KBA – Badminton Management Committee for badminton. It has proper district representation as desired. Actually, it’s about 80%. It’s not a parallel body, a body within a body. .But BAI did not accept it and took this arbitrary decision without even giving us a show cause notice.

Calls are not answered

KBA’s next move will be decided on Friday after its executive committee meeting. Calls to BAI General Secretary Sanjay Mishra went unanswered.