KATHMANDU, Feb 5: Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC)’s acting president Kishore Bahadur Singh has appealed the associated sports governing bodies to co-operate with the NOC as it is recognized by the Supreme Court (SC) as Nepal’s legitimate Olympic body.
Speaking at a press conference held at NOC premises at Satdobato in Lalitpur on Sunday, Singh urged all the sports bodies registered with Nepal Sports Council (NSC) to co-ordinate with Rukma Shumsher Rana-led NOC committee, which is also the committee recognized by International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
“We have requested the NSC and the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) to write to the other committee (led by Jeevan Ram Shrestha) to co-operate with IOC and other international associations,” said Singh, after police denied his committee’s entry into the building.
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“Only the NOC has legal right for financial transactions along with the logo, flag and stamp.
If the concerned bodies have made deals with any illegitimate personnel or organization in the name of Olympic committee, it will be subject to official probe,” he added.
The SC had given its verdict last month recognizing the Rukma Shamsher Rana-led NOC as the official body, scrapping all writs filed against it. With the decision, the court has upheld its previous decision to deny legitimacy to the committee of NOC led by CPN-UML leader and lawmaker Jeevan Ram Shrestha.
A joint bench of justices Deepak Raj Joshi and Dambar Bahadur Shahi, on January 2, had decided to uphold the previous decision of the apex court regarding the recognition of NOC and scrapped all four writs submitted by different petitioners.
Singh demanded legal action against Jeevan Ram Shrestha, Lalitpur’s chief district officer, and police chief of the district for not allowing his committee entry into the NOC building and thereby causing them defamation.
On another note, he also said that the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) will be held under Rana-led committee.
