The Delhi High Court has appointed a three-member Ad Hoc Administration Committee (AAC) under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Najmi Waziri to run the day to day affairs of the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI). Former Chief Election Commissioner Dr SY Quraishi and senior advocate Ms. Rohini Musa have been named the other AAC members.
Delivering a judgement earlier this week, Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju directed that the AAC shall take over EFI’s administration and functioning. The order restrains the existing office-bearers of the EFI from discharging any function but should render all assistance to the AAC as and when requested by the Committee.
“Ordinarily, a Writ Court will not interfere in the administration of a National Sports Federation, however, where there is clear impropriety and the administration is being carried on in an arbitrary or capricious or perverse manner, such a situation once brought to the notice of the Court, cannot be ignored either,” Justice Tara Vistasta Ganju said in her judgement.
“Pending the conduct of elections, EFI cannot be left without any office-bearers. However, in view of what has been discussed above, this Court cannot in good conscience leave the functioning of EFI solely in the hands of those office bearer(s) whose tenure has expired and who are acting in a capricious manner and in violation of the directives of the Court,” she wrote.
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Justice Tara Vitasta Ganji also gave the erstwhile EFI Secretary General Col. Jaiveer Singh 10 days time to submit a report to the AAC setting out all decisions made by EFI from September 29, 2023, till date. These will include setting up of Expert Committees to decide selection criteria and the decisions on the EFI annual calendar.
The Rajasthan Equestrian Association had moved Delhi High Court to stay the elections to a portion of the EFI Executive Committee in 2019. REA alleged that the EFI electoral college violated the National Sports Development Code of India 2011 as it allowed clubs and army units as voting members. The Court allowed the elections to be held but imposed certain conditions.
During the pendency of the case, EFI sought to nominate Lt. Gen. SS Mishra as President within moments of being admitted as a member of the Federation. The REA challenged that decision and in July 2020, Justice Naveen Chawla of the Delhi High Court restrained Lt. Gen. Mishra from heading the Federation.
Subsequently in 2022, Col. Jaiveer Singh advised elected members of the Executive Committee and elected members of the Selection Committee that their terms of office had ended. It left the Federation with just three members of the Executive Committee (and it needs a quorum of seven for a meeting of the Executive Committee to be valid) and no Selection Committee.
Yet, when his own four-year tenure was to end in September 2023, Col. Jaiveer Singh sought to extend his term by getting an Extraordinary General Meeting to propose and approve that move. REA convinced the Delhi High Court that Justice (Retd.) Waziri who was chairing the September 17 meeting as per the Court’s direction had not allowed that to be taken up.
Despite that, the minutes submitted to the Court as per its directions included a supposed decision: “The house unanimously approved that the existing office-bearers to continue to till elections take place in the best interest of the Federation, Athletes and all stakeholders. This decision shall also prevent derecognition of EFI by FEI.”
In April 2023, the Delhi High Court had directed elections be held including setting up an electoral college, but a Division Bench of the Court stayed that and directed that the elections be held after the matters are decided. The equestrian community awaits the outcome of the 2019 writ and the 2022 writ which challenges the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ decision to grant EFI exemption from complying with a couple of clauses of the National Sports Code.
Away from the courts of law, what is very important is how Anush Agwarwalla has won a quota place for India in dressage at the Paris Olympics. Anush had shone at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year, when he won two medals in dressage.
Hopefully, with an adhoc body in place now to run equestrian affairs in India, Anush Agarwalla will have more clarity on how the selection takes place for Paris 2024.