One room, 3 staff: 28 years on, Asian Games panel still working

As the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CGOC) battles charges of corruption and seeks to be heard ahead of the sports event, the other committee which hosted the last sporting extravaganza in the country is also trying to make its point in the court cases — about 28 years after the 1982 Asian games.

The 1982 Asian Games Special Organising Committee (AGSOC) still exists and has a one-room office in Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium. Its previous one-room office was in JLN Stadium.

“The Attorney General had opined that the AGSOC should not be dissolved. That’s why it still exists under a special order of the government,” AGSOC secretary K S Bains told The Indian Express.

The AGSOC has only three persons on the staff, including Bains. The other two are an assistant director and a part-time peon. Bains, a retired IAS officer, was awarded Padma Shri for his services to the AGSOC, and is currently involved with training of volunteers of the Commonwealth Games.

While Bains claims he himself draws no salary for his services to the committee, the other staff members are paid from whatever is left of the AGSOC’s fund.

The reason for this long innings of the AGSOC is the pending court cases, prominent among them being an arbitration case against Dubai-based Meetco, which had entered into an agreement with the AGSOC to market the advertising space during the 1982 games with the promise of paying a minimum of $6 million revenue to the organising committee.

Under the agreement, Meetco had to make monthly payments but it defaulted in the second month after winning the contract. As a pre-emptive measure, the company filed a case in a Dubai court against the AGSOC for $22 million. This was contested by the AGSOC, and the Dubai court adjudged it in the AGSOC’s favour, observing that adjudication should be held in India.

The AGSOC, on its part, filed a case against Meetco for a compensation of $6 million for failing to honour the contract.

Subsequently, Meetco filed another case in London, claiming that it had outsourced its job to Meetco London, only to be referred back to India, where the arbitration case has been settled in favour of the AGSOC for $3 million.

But the execution of the recovery process is yet to be carried out. Hence, the long innings of the AGSOC.