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A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the state of affairs of the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) following its suspension by Hockey India (HI) after the state body went ahead and appointed a new secretary Salil Basu last December without intimating the apex body.
It is learnt that Hockey India (HI) was peeved with the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) for not bothering to apprise them about a change of guard and accordingly slapped a suspension order on the state unit.
The Bengal Hockey Association seems to have carried out the whole exercise inadvertently. Sources in BHA say the state body was not aware of any rule in the Hockey India constitution, which states that a state body has to inform the apex body whenever there is appointment or removal of its officials.
This line of thinking might have led Bengal Hockey Association to conduct its elections and elect Basu as its new secretary replacing legendary Indian full-back Gurbux Singh, who was serving in this role for the last sixteen years.
One is not sure but sources say that BHA are trying to pin the blame on Gurbux, who was not only a member of the gold-winning 1964 Tokyo Olympics team also captained the national team to glory in the 1966 Bangkok Asian Games, for not informing Hockey India that he was making away for Basu as its new secretary.
The Bengal Hockey Association could have avoided this Hockey India (HI) suspension by promptly informing the parent body about the induction of a new secretary.
Gurbux, who was also part of the bronze-winning 1968 Mexico Olympics team, is now one of the six vice-presidents of Bengal Hockey Association.
Whether they are aware of the rules of Hockey India is a different matter altogether.
Former Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty, who is the Bengal Hockey Association (BHA) president, is keen to sort this issue. He will be meeting Hockey India secretary Narinder Batra next week to pave the way for the apex body to lift the suspension slapped on them.
