Blow To Ummer Koya
By Arvind Aaron
R.M.Dongre, Manuel Aaron, Bharat Singh at a press conference in Hotel Savera, Chennai on Feb 1.. Pic: Arvind Aaron
In a sudden move, the Madras High Court restrained the All India Chess Federation (AICF) Secretary and Treasurer P.T.Ummer Koya and Soumen Mazumdar from acting as Secretary and Treasurer. The Tamil Nadu State Chess Association, Maharashtra Chess Association and the Delhi Chess Association sought the relief from the illegal activities of these two office bearers.
"Koya had been terrorising the players for long," said Manuel Aaron. Dongre said from the Rs.20 lakh Government grant for the Commonwealth Championships of 2003 and 2004 he received only Rs.5 lakhs while the Government had sanctioned the full Rs.20 lakhs. Bharat Singh said of the Rs.4.50 lakh Government advance grant for the Parvnath International Open in 2005, the draft was made on Jan 11, 2005 but he is yet to receive it from the Federation.
The High Court decision is a blow to Koya as he cannot function as Secretary of the AICF, Vice President of FIDE and also President of the Commonwealth Chess Association before clearing these charges in this court or the Supreme Court.
When journalists asked Manuel Aaron when you got a chance to remove Koya from the AICF in 2001 why didnt you do it, he replied that the situation was different then. An attempt to hijack AICF was made and we had to stop that. "When the auditing of the AICF moved from Delhi to Calicut in 2001, Koya went on a rampage," Aaron said. Further, Aaron said AICF was registered in Madras in 1958 but Koya had it registered afresh in Calicut in 1991 forging the signature of Manuel Aaron.
The immediate future for the AICF looks gloomy. Asked if there was elections what will happen. "If there is a secret ballot we will win," said Manuel Aaron. Koya has to fight in the courts at Chennai where he could appeal or go to the Supreme Court. Allegations against him sound serious and AICF will be run by its President N Srinivasan until the present air of uncertainty is cleared. The Chess India complex at Kozhikode belongs to Koya himself and AICF was paying him rent. "We had only given significant of the illegal activities of Koya," said Aaron.
The press release said Koya had been siphoning off the funds of the AICF under various heads like Honorarium to Secretary, Honorarium to AICF Forum Editor, Webmaster, Computer Programmer of AICF, Computer Programmer for AICF Forum, Webmaster etc. Most of these allegations were of financial nature. The honorary Secretaries who functioned from 1958 in the AICF had not drawn any Honorarium for the service rendered. Koya, in his first term from 1989-1993 had not drawn any honorarium. However, he later, started to take honorarium in thousands and then in lakhs.