The crucial ingredient that is lacking in racing administration these days is total absence of transparency which allows scope for manipulations and unhealthy practices, lamented S Chockalingam, former Steward of the Bangalore Turf Club. Chockalingam was also the Appeal Board member of the club till recently. He resigned in disgust after the Stewards of the club failed to act on his complaint against a trainer for approaching him for favour when his appeal was pending before the Appeal Board.

''The professionals have no respect for people who govern the sport. The professionals openly flaunt their equations with powers that be. Some of the Stewards appear to be there to represent certain interests. The Stipes are either incompetent or not acting for reasons which does not flatter these worthies,’’ said Chockalingam in a chat with this writer explaining the reasons why he chose to take the path of resignation.

''I have always been outspoken and in every general body meeting, I have voiced my concern at the deteriorating standards. There is no accountability. The Stewards and Appeal Board members think that they can act as per their whims and fancies and need not explain their actions. The professionals are either let off or punished because of bias or inherent prejudices.’’

Chockalingam said that things can change if there is a reasoned argument put forth by each member of the Appeal Board or Steward at the time of enquiry. This should be put on record. Then there will be greater accountability. ''The enquiries should be held in open court and not in camera as is the case now. If there are observers in the form of Press and veteran race horse owners, the Stewards will be forced to act more responsibly. Like in the case of objections, race goers are watching live how the proceedings are conducted with makes it difficult to take frivolous or questionable decisions. I hope this reform is brought about as soon as possible. I heard that at RWITC the nominated Stewards objected to proceedings of enquiries being shown live. How can they decide? It is for the elected Stewards to take a call.’’

Chockalingam said that Appeal Board members should be elected by the general body and not nominated as is the case in Bangalore Turf Club. ''The elected members will then have greater commitment. Now we have former stewards who are not regulars being nominated to the Appeal Board. We need people who are in touch with the sport. The same goes for the Stewards body as well. There is also need to change the existing rules. Race horse owners should be allowed to become Stewards as they have a stake in racing. Of course, the checks and balances should be in place.‘’

''The other evil that is affecting the performance of the club is the fact that the Chairman is not elected by the Managing Committee members but thrust on the club by a directive from the government. The government nominees are all ex-officio members and they should not be deciding the Chairman of the club. It is the person who commands majority who should become the Chairman.

Now under the present system, a person without majority can become the Chairman if he has political influence. ''This system results in lot of manipulations. When a person has the government purportedly in his favour, the other Stewards rarely tend to discharge their duties with objectivity and courage. Such a scenario has led to rapid decline in integrity standards. This can be seen by the way enquiries have dragged on for months with outside (political) influences deciding the course of action.

''When I brought to the notice of the Chairman the infraction of the professional in approaching me for favour, he said though the rules permitted action to be taken on the said professional, he was not going to act. This is the reason why professionals have become daring. In the past, officials and stewards maintained an objective distance but now that barrier is broken. Adjustments and manipulations have replaced fair practices. The present Chairman has contributed immensely in bringing about sharp decline in the way the sport is governed.

''The other day I was told by some of the Stewards that though the majority wanted to chart a different course of action pertaining to several enquiries, the Chairman bulldozed his way so much so that he has successfully used his proximity with the government to do things his own way for reasons best known to him.

An intelligent and conscientious opposition is needed to stem the rot. Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious should correct these defects, Chockalingam said in despair.