The Madras High Court has, in an interim injunction, restrained P T Ummer Koya and Sowmen Majumdar from acting as Secretary and Treasurer of the All India Chess Federation (AICF).
Justice R Balasubramaniam has issued the interim order on petitions filed by the State Chess Associations of Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Maharashtra. The court, in another interim order, restrained Koya from acting as a representative of the AICF and functioning as the vice-president of FIDE and chairman of the Commonwealth Chess Association.
Addressing a joint press conference in Chennai today, Manuel Aaron, Tamil Nadu Chess Association Honorary Secretary, Bharat Singh, Honorary Secretary of the Delhi Chess Association, and R M Dongre, Chairman of the Maharashtra Chess Association, said the three associations had moved the Madras High Court seeking relief against what they called many illegal acts of omission and commission by some office-bearers of the AICF.
Copies of the court decision had been conveyed to the AICF President N Srinivasan, they said, adding that they hoped the AICF President would immediately appoint a new Secretary and Treasurer of the AICF, so that day-to-day functioning of the game was not affected and to ensure that the schedule of tournaments be adhered to.
One of the complaints made out against Koya was the arbitrary manner in which a decision was announced at the Annual General Body on June 1, 2004, effecting a 10 per cent cut in the prize money for players, on the ground of a financial crisis in the
AICF.
However, at the same meeting it was also resolved to open a Chess Hall of Fame at the Chess India Complex at Kozhikode at a rent of Rs 25,000 per month. "It was not revealed that the Chess India Complex belonged to Koya himself", the petitioners said.
On receiving a representation from the players, including Viswanathan Anand, AICF president Srinivasan had written to Koya asking him not to implement the 10 per cent cut. When the president wanted his fresh letter seeking a rollback of the decision to be placed before the Special General Body at its meeting in Kochi on November 19, 2004, Koya did not place the president's letter before the meeting, they alleged.
They said Koya had alienated the cream of Indian chess. They also alleged in the petition that AICF funds under various heads were being siphoned off. For example, honorarium to secretary and AICF Forum Editor, Webmaster and so on. This was in addition to his huge TA/DA bills running to over Rs 8 lakh, local conveyance, refreshment and salary of Rs 12,000 per month for his private secretary, they charged.
They pointed out that Koya was not in Kozhikode most of the time (he himself had claimed to make 350 flights in a year) and yet charged local conveyance of Rs 96,000 and refreshment of Rs 51,600 per year.
Though the AICF was registered in Madras 1958, Koya had sought to conceal this and registered the organisation afresh at Kozhikode in 1991 as a new entity, Manuel Aaron said, adding that his signature had been forged in the registration documents.
The petitioners said they would ensure that the game of chess did not suffer in the interim period as a result of the court order. He hoped that the AICF president and others would act speedily to appoint new office-bearers in place of Koya and Mazumdar and continue with efforts to develop the game in India.
They also complained that Koya had adopted a vindictive attitude towards premier chess associations as existed in Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi, by promoting certain Academies in various centres, bypassing the State Chess Associations.
They said issues were being raised against Koya from time to time in the last three or four years, but the time had come for the AICF to act swiftly in the interest of the game and the players.
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