The Supreme Court on Tuesday said “strong measures” were required to infuse purity, fairness, autonomy and independence in Indian sports federations and oust persons who “monopolised” such bodies with vested interest. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, to take instructions on a CBI probe and a letter written by the “so-called” president of Asian Kabaddi Federation to the administrator of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI).
“Taking into the consideration the oral submissions, and having taken cognisance of the offensive language used by one so-called president of the Asian Kabaddi federation, it seems to us that some strong measures are required to be taken in order to infuse purity, fairness and autonomy and independence in the election process particularly to oust such persons who have monopolised the sports federations with vested interest,” it said.
The bench asked Mehta to take instructions on ensuring domestic Kabaddi players or other sports persons were allowed to participate in the international competitions including Asian Kabaddi championship in Iran.
The Centre was further directed by the court to explore diplomatic channels for the resolution of conflicts and recognition of sports associations including the Kabaddi federation.
The court asked Mehta to see whether the electoral roll of the AKFI was valid and the state associations were represented by genuinely elected or nominated persons, who were entitled to participate in the national federation elections.
“Firstly, we will get this information and if the need arises, we will order for fresh elections of AKFI,” the bench said and posted the matter on February 6.
The top court was hearing a plea of two national Kabaddi players Priyanka and Pooja seeking direction to AKFI — unaffiliated by the International Kabaddi Federation — for sending them to Asian Kabaddi Championship scheduled to be held in Iran from February 20 to 25.
Two former players, who are Arjuna Awardees, have also intervened in the matter and apprised the court about the affairs of AKFI through their counsel senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan.
Justice Surya Kant said if there was anything wrong with the election of the governing body of AKFI, then the court would not hesitate in ordering a fresh election and this time it wouldn’t depend on any administrator.
“We deprecate this practice of appointing former judges or bureaucrats as administrator. This practice is not good for anyone. The democratic values have to be restored. The voters, participants must be very genuine, most of them from sports background. They should be given adequate respect and participation and space inside these bodies. All those sports bodies, where sports persons themselves come forward have improved a lot,” he said.
The top court underscored the need to develop democratic culture in these sports bodies but said it wasn’t possible with a stroke of a pen.
Sankaranarayanan said the person who ruled AKFI for 40 years, and now ousted, sat in the international body of Kabaddi and was responsible for suspending the affiliation of AKFI and not allowing players to participate in international tournaments.
“He should be sent to jail for doing all this,” he said and sought the International Kabaddi Federation to be made a party and directed to restore AKFI’s affiliation.
The bench asked Mehta to find out whether the electorates for the AKFI were hijacked or whosoever were in the electoral roll were duly elected or nominated.
“If the electoral roll is alright and those who participated in the election are wrong, then too we will put some conditions for the participants. Unless someone has contributed to the sports, we will not allow him to come and occupy the post,” the bench said.
The international federation de-affiliated AKFI in July, last year, barring Kabaddi teams from participating in several global events.
The women players, who have approached the top court have also sought a direction to the Centre to take steps for restoring the affiliation of AKFI.>
