The Delhi High Court has decided to keep pending the Equestrian Federation of India prayer to vacate the stay on the nomination of the Quartermaster General as its President till the next hearing of the Rajasthan Equestrian Association petition against EFI on August 5 next. It will also take up the REA prayer to order the EFI to conduct elections as per the National Sports Code on that day.
While the Court disposed of a number of Miscellaneous Applications in the case on Thursday, it said that it would take up the key prayers by both parties on the day of the next hearing after considering the Delhi High Court-appointed Observer SY Quraishi’s scathing report of February and the EFI’s revised response that was filed before the Court on April 9.
On July 20 last, Justice Naveen Chawla issued an order restraining Lt. Gen. SS Mishra and Lt. Gen. MKS Yadav from acting as interim President and Vice-President respectively until the next hearing, schedule for September 24 next. They had been nominated to these positions upon taking charge as Quartermaster General and Director-General, Supplies & Transport in the army.
Later, palpably upset with the Equestrian Federation of India, Dr. Quraishi recommended that the Court appoint an Administrator to oversee the reformation process so that the EFI complies with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011, beginning with amending its constitution and the electoral procedure.
He concluded his report by praying the Court to consider a systematic reformation process of EFI, including amending the Statutes to being it in compliance with the Sports Code, to then hold elections in line with the model election guidelines of the Code – and to affect these under a Court-appointed Administrator.
In his report, Dr. Quraishi requested the Court to consider that he had withdrawn the no objection he had granted to the nomination of two persons as EFI President and Vice-President (Admin) since he had been misled to believing that no one else was qualified to hold the said posts.
The Rajasthan Equestrian Association, represented by Senior Advocate Rajeev Dutta and Ashish Kothari, drew the Court’s attention Dr. Quaraishi’s report and said the petitioner’s grievance is limited to the fact that EFI has not been following Sports Code and not conducted elections as per the Sports Code.
The Court heard the arguments on Thursday but did not dispose of the matter due to paucity of time. Justice Pratibha M. Singh said she would make a decision on the recommendations of the Observer after going through his report and EFI’s objections. The EFI application for vacation of stay granted on July 20, 2020, restraining two army officials from functioning as EFI President and Vice President (Adminstration) would also be taken up on August 5.
On March 3, the Court rejected EFI’s counter affidavit as it contained some observations that attacked the integrity and neutrality of the Court-appointed Observer. EFI counsel Viraj R Datar filed a fresh counter-affidavit raising objections against the Observer’s report to the Court.
Our hope for a clean Equestrian Federation in India now lies in the hands of the Indian judiciary. Our trust is in them.