G Rajaraman
The Delhi High Court today castigated the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) for its vicious approach to eliminate the best candidates for the coming Asian Games by acting in a completely capricious and arbitrary manner while discharging its responsibilities.
In a landmark judgement, favouring teenaged athlete Chirag Khandal, Shashank Singh Kataria and Yash Nensee who moved Court against the EFI decision to change selection criteria, Justice Gaurang Kanth ordered EFI to allow all athletes who participated in selection trials, either in 2021-22 and/or in 2022-23 to be selected as probables to attend coaching camps in Europe.
Justice Gaurang Kanth came down heavily on EFI’s attempt to dismiss Chirag Khandal’s MERs obtained last year. EFI sought to argue that the MER was valid only for a year from the date of the last event. The Court over-ruled that argument since none of the horse-rider combinations who obtained MERs in India would be competing in the Asian Games.
EFI Vice-President’s Conflict of Interest comes under Court’s scrutiny
It did not escape the Court’s notice that the EFI Vice President (Finance) Harish Khokhar was in severe conflict when engaged in the selection process. His son is engaged in leasing horses that would be used by participating candidates.
“Despite having a major vested interest in the selection process, he failed to disclose this fact before the Federation or before this Hon’ble Court for that matter. He does not only continue to be a prominent part of the body, but has been proactively involved in formulating the selection criteria and moulding course of trials and selection of modus operandi.,” the Court said.
“A sportsperson belongs to the field and stadium, not to the corridors of the Courts. The present case seems to have become a David and Goliath contest, where an organization is using all its might to eliminate certain individual from the competition,” the Court said.
Committee of Experts has no mention in EFI Statutes or National Sports Code
Justice Gaurang Kanth said the Committee of Experts appointed by the Equestrian Federation of India does not find any mention in the EFI Statutes or the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011. “Such a Committee of Experts lacks any authority to amend the Selection Criteria and therefore such a modification is an eyewash to substitute a validly constituted Selection Committee,” he wrote.
Another major amendment by the Committee of Experts was that it reduced the Minimum Eligibility Requirement. By way of amendment, the (Horse-Rider) candidate who achieved 1 MER is also eligible to be considered.
“If this condition was known to equestrians, they would have managed to participate in at least one selection trial in India. Since participating in four trials was a mandatory condition, many equestrians must have withdrawn from the selection process due to the non-availability of the number of selection trials,” the Court said.
EFI had filed a review petition before the Court as it wanted to advance the dates of its camp in Europe and therefore leave Chirag Khandal out of the scheme of things. It will now have to scramble to send a larger team of probables to Europe, find horses for them to lease (since Indian mounts cannot enter Europe or China directly). It remains to be seen if it does that.
NSFs duty to conduct selection in fair and transparent manner
“It is the duty of National Sports Federations to ensure that the selection process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner and the selection criterion are made known to all stakeholders well in advance. Any dilution to this process will not only shatter the dreams of these athletes, but every citizen of this country.
“This Court, at this stage, can only wish all the very best to each of the contestants and requests the EFI to select the best team to represent the country so that they can fulfil the dreams of every Indian citizen,” the Court said.
No one who aims to bring laurels to one’s motherland should be subjected to mental agony by the federations and their officials, the Court said. “Our whole endeavour should be towards providing our athletes with a supportive ecosystem wherein their attention is only on improving their performance and achieving top spots in tournaments,” Justice Gaurang Kanth ordered.