By IANS,
New Delhi : Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) disgraced president Suresh Kalmadi said Wednesday that he had no intentions of attending the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Games slated for July 27.
The Delhi High Court allowed Kalmadi, sacked Commonwealth Games Organising Committee, to visit Britain but restrained him from attending the July 27 opening ceremony of the London Olympics 2012. Kalmadi is out on bail in a corruption case linked to the 2010 Commonwealth Games here.
Kalmadi said he had sought permission from the court to attend the council meeting of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) in London in his capacity as the president of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA).
“I was never planning to attend the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics and I never sought this permission in any case,” Kalmadi said in a statement.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw said: “We are not allowing him to attend the opening ceremony.”
The court directed Kalmadi not to leave the country before July 27, the day when the Olympics opening ceremony would be held in London.
Advocate Rahul Mehra filed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction to restrain Kalmadi from visiting London. He has said Kalmadi was going to attend the Games at public expense and in violation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) code of ethics.
Kalmadi told the court that he was leaving for London in his individual capacity and not in his official capacity as the IOA president.