The dispute over the legitimacy of Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) surfaced once again after the Rukma Shumsher Rana-led body padlocked its building in Satdobato claiming the office belongs to them.

The long-standing dispute had come to a brief halt in July, 2015 when current NOC President Jeevan Ram Shrestha and his predecessor Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan had signed an agreement with Rana to settle the dispute. NOC then witnessed an election a year later electing Shrestha as its new president but his tenure has been marred by Tuesday’s development. 

On Monday evening, a group representing Rana-led committee tried to vandalise the Nepal Olympic building and padlocked its office entrance. Shrestha committee, which has been recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), on Tuesday called for police intervention and prevented Rana-panel from entering the office. 

“I don’t really understand why they (Rana committee) are creating all the problems when everything has been settled over a year ago. We reiterate that we are the legitimate NOC and for quite a long time we have been carrying out all the activities that comes under the IOC and OCA,” said Shrestha. 

Shrestha, who also served as National Sports Council (NSC) Member Secretary twice, revealed that in the agreement of 2015, eight members from the Rana-led committee had agreed to join Pradhan-led NOC, five of them were supposed to be in the executive body. 

On Tuesday, Rana-panel held a press conference outside the NOC building but his statement over the previous agreement differed. “We didn’t have any such deals. We had just agreed on working together,” said Rana adding the 2007 elections that appointed Pradhan as the new boss was illegitimate.  

The dispute over the legitimacy of the two bodies had flared up in 2010 after the Supreme Court reinstated Rana-led committee but the Pradhan-led panel had continued to establish international relations and mediate during the times of events under IOC and OCA.