New Delhi, Feb 13 (IANS): Anil Khanna, one of the vice-presidents of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), has been appointed chairman of a nine-member panel of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for Constitution Governance Reforms and Sports Code Advisory Group. The panel was set up this week and will have its first meeting on February 16.

The panel will review the issues pertaining to the National Sports Development Code 2011 and "interference" of the international sports federations in the affairs of the National Sports Federations (NSFs) of India.

"As per the Sports Code 2011 guidelines, a president of an NSF is entitled to a tenure of three terms in the office, or 12 years, while it is two terms or eight years for secretary and treasurer. The cooling-off period of one term or four years is similar to all three office-bearers. But the guidelines should be uniform for all key office bearers," said one of the members of the panel.

Since several NSFs aren't following the Sports Code 2011 guidelines for good governance and transparency, the case is pending in the Delhi High Court.

The panel will also make recommendations that would be taken up with the executive committee of the IOA. Man Mohan Jaiswal, secretary-general of the Judo Federation of India, is the convenor of the committee.

The other members of the panel are Sudhanshu Mittal, Onkar Singh, Digvijay Singh, VN Prasood, Abhijit Sarkar, Hemochandra Singh, Ajit Banerjee, Malav Shroff, and Debebdranath Sarangi.