National Sports Federations Should Prioritize Fostering Best Talent Without Being Muddled By Personal Vendettas Against Any Candidate: Delhi High Court

Pulling up Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) over its selection process for upcoming Asian Games, the Delhi High Court has observed that a National Sports Federation should prioritize identifying and fostering best talent in the country without being muddled by hyper-technicality and personal vendettas against any candidate.

Observing that a sportsperson belongs to the stadium and not in courts corridors, Justice Gaurang Kanth said that no one who aims to bring laurels to their motherland should be subjected to mental agony by the federations and its officials.

The court was hearing the petitions moved by three equestrians against the process of selecting candidates for the 19th Asian Games to be held from September 23 to October 8.

The court observed that the EFI failed to produce any documentary evidence to demonstrate that the impugned selection criteria was issued by a duly constituted Selection Committee in accordance with Article 15 of its statute.

It also said that the EFI changed the rule of qualifications while the selection process was ongoing and hence denied equal opportunity to all the aspirants of 19th Asian games.

“Despite presence of such precautionary provisions, element of biasness and conflict of interest remains a major challenge in running of National Federation in Indian sports as can be seen in the present matter. The Vice President (Finance) of EFI, despite having a major vested interest in the selection process failed to disclose this fact before the Federation or before this Hon‟ble Court for that matter,” the court said.

The court directed the EFI to allow all the equestrians who participated in the selection process to attend the coaching camps and allow them to participate in Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) competitions in which already selected probables will be participating.

“This Court is deeply saddened by the sorry state of affairs and the deplorable condition of professionalism amongst the representatives of the EFI. Instead of spending a considerable amount of energy and funds on prohibiting young sportsmen from entering the list of "probables", the EFI should rather focus on improving its administration and chalking out a strategy to bag as many international laurels as possible,” it said.

Justice Kanth further said that the 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.

“It is a proud moment for every Indian citizen to see our Athletes with Tricolour in their hand. The country recognises the years of hard work and dedication put by each Athlete to reach at that stage. The role of National Federations is to ease the difficulties faced by the Athletes and extend the necessary help to them to enable them to better their performances,” the court said.

Furthermore, it was observed that it is the duty of the 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. It added that any dilution to this process will not only shatter the dreams of these athletes, but every citizen of the country.

“EFI is directed to allow all the equestrians who participated in either of the Selection Process V-3 or V-5 to attend the coaching camps and participate in the FEI competitions in which already selected “Probables” will be participating,” the court ordered.

Advocates Nikhil Singhvi, Shikhar Kishore, Bilal Ikram, Milind Dixit, Parth Aggarwal, Gautam Narayan and Urvi Mohan appeared for the petitioners.

Advocates Kirtiman Singh, Prateek Dhanda, Waize Ali Noor, Manmeet Kaur Sareen, Vidhi Jain, Madhav Bajaj, Kunjala Bhardwaj and Yash Upadhayay appeared for EFI.

CaseTitle: CHIRAG KHANDAL v. EQUESTRIAN FEDERATION OF INDIA & ORS. and other connected matters

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 217

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