Indian Olympic Association : Supreme Court Extends Status Quo On CoA Take Over

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice in the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) plea against the Delhi High Court's Order as per which the affairs of IOA were put in the hands of a Committee of Administrators (CoA). The matter was listed before the bench comprising Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and J.K. Maheshwari. The bench, while issuing notice, also extended the status quo order on the CoA take over until further orders. The matter will be heard after four weeks.

On August 18, a  bench led by the Chief Justice of India had passed the status quo order after being told that the CoA was yet to take over. However, the CJI-led bench had not issued notice, as the matter was only orally mentioned by the Solicitor General of India.

Background

The issue arose when a 2010 petition was filed by Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra seeking the constitution of the Indian Olympic Association as per the elections held in accordance with the National Sports Code. In this context, a division bench of the Delhi High Court, comprising of Justice Najmi Waziri and Justice Manmohan, noting that the IOA committee was not continuing as per the National Sports Code, passed an order on August 16, 2022, stating that if a sports federation did not comply with the law of the land, it would receive no recognition from the Government and the benefits and facilities to it would stop promptly. Accordingly, the affairs of IOA were put in the hands of a Committee of Administrators (CoA). 

In the last hearing on the matter, the Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central Government, stated that the appointment of CoA was seen as outside interference and thus, could lead to the suspension of IOA, in a manner similar to the suspension of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) by the FIFA. It may be noted that recently, the FIFA had suspended the AIFF citing the Supreme Court's order constituting a CoA to take over its affairs as an "undue influence from third parties". Accordingly, the Supreme Court had, just today, passed a direction to terminate the mandate of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to manage the affairs of the AIFF. In this context, the Supreme Court's bench comprising Chief Justice of India NV Ramana and Justice CT Ravikumar had ordered status quo with respect to the Delhi High Court's order. 

CASE TITLE: INDIAN OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION v. UNION OF INDIA & ORS. | DIARY NO. 25767/2022