The High Court of Delhi allowed the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ application to write to the Indian Olympic Association to appoint an ad hoc committee to run the affairs of the beleaguered Equestrian Federation of India, rewrite its constitution in line with the requirements of the National Sports Governance (National Sports Bodies) Rules, 2026 and conduct elections.
It may come across as ironical that just a week or so after the High Court dissolved the ad hoc committee appointed by IOA to run Ski and Snowboard India, it has approved the appointment of an ad hoc panel to govern Equestrian Federation of India, revise its Statutes and conduct elections. But it must be welcome since there has been an administrative imbroglio in the sport.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav on Wednesday, hearing the Ministry’s application in the long-drawn Rajasthan Equestrian Association vs. Equestrian Federation of India matter, directed that the ad hoc committee complete its task of rewriting the EFI Statutes inside three months and hold elections within a month thereafter.
The petition was listed 111 across days since September 23, 2019. Rajasthan Equestrian Association, which was represented by Senior Counsel Rajiv Dutta and Ashish Kothari, was pleased that fresh elections would be held under the stipulations laid down by rules under the National Sports Governance Act 2025.
While the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 allowed only associations from State and Union Territories to be voting members of a National Sports Federation, the EFI general body included clubs and individuals as well. The Rajasthan Equestrian Association had challenged this election, but the Court allowed it to proceed as an interim measure.
The degeneration started when EFI reneged on its commitment to comply with the Code that it had presented in a roadmap to the Ministry in 2017. Instead in 2021, it sought and got exemptions from certain important provisions of the Code. This happened even as the Court was hearing the petition that the EFI election in 2019 were in contravention of the Code.
Things spiraled further when EFI amended its Statues in 2022 and removed a number of elected members of the Executive Committee and the elected Selection Committee. The manner in which the amendments were carried out have been challenged before the Court since they were introduced in the Annual General Meeting as part of the Secretary-General’s report.
The situation got even worse after a Division Bench reinstated the Executive Committee in view of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The Executive Committee and the Secretary-General could never bring themselves to be on the same page, with the selections for last year’s Asian Youth Games leading to some athletes moving Court (like many did ahead of the Asian Games in 2023).
In the past six years, various Benches of the High Court have passed a range orders, including directing two Army Generals to not officiate as President and Vice-President (Administration) respectively, ordering elections in 2023 that were stayed, impose an ad hoc committee but that was replaced by the reinstatement of the Executive Committee.
Justice Sanjeev Narula held that the exemptions granted to EFI were arbitrary and lacked substantiative factual foundation. A Division Bench comprising Justice Anil Kshetarpal and Justice Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar upheld the view that clubs do not fall within the class of entities to whom the Code accords participatory rights in the governance of a Federation.
Though the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports notified the National Sports Governance (National Sports Bodies) Rules 2026 last month and directed the National Sports Federations to amend their respective constitutions within six months and hold elections before December 31 thus year, EFI has apparently not moved an inch in that direction.
Besides, with the Asian Games coming up in Aichi-Nagoya this year, it is only fair that the Ministry does not athletes to be troubled with multiple selection criteria and uncertainty. Even though the long list of names has been sent, much work remains to be done to ensure that India continues to win medals in the sport in the Asian Games like it did in Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
Given the inability of the Executive Committee and the Secretary-General to find common ground, the Ministry may have been left with no option but to recommend an ad hoc committee to administer the Federation until elections can be held. This will also allow the Ministry to reconsider the extent to which it exempts EFI from compliance with the stipulated rules.
If the ad hoc committee sticks to the mandate laid down by the High Court Delhi of Delhi, Equestrian Federation of India may well become the first National Sports Federation to hold elections in compliance with the requirements of the National Sports Governance (National Sports Bodies) Rules 2026, issued last month.
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