Justice (retd.) Najmi Waziri has been presented with the chance to put into practice what he always held as sacrosanct when, as Judge of the Delhi High Court, he adjudicated writs around the non-compliance of the National Sports Development Code of India 2011.
On May 21, Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju of the Delhi High Court named him as Chairperson of a three-member Ad-hoc Administration Committee (AAC) to run the Equestrian Federation of India. The High Court-appointed Observer SY Quraishi, who presented two reports to the Court in 2019 and 2022, and senior advocate Rohini Musa have been named AAC other members.
The erstwhile Secretary General of the beleaguered EFI Col. Jaiveer Singh, who sought to extend his stay in office beyond the four-year term by claiming the EFI Extraordinary General Meeting on September 29, 2023, has been given 10 days’ time to submit a report to the AAC setting out all decisions made from September 29, 2023, till date.
“Pending the conduct of elections, EFI cannot be left without any office-bearers. However, this Court cannot in good conscience leave the functioning of EFI solely in the hands of those office bearer(s) whose tenure has expired and who are acting in a capricious manner and in violation of the directives of the Court,” Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju wrote.
“Ordinarily, a Writ Court will not interfere in the administration of a National Sports Federation, however, where there is clear impropriety and the administration is being carried on in an arbitrary or capricious or perverse manner, such a situation once brought to the notice of the Court, cannot be ignored either,” she Ganju wrote.
Delivering her judgement earlier this week in an application moved by the Rajasthan Equestrian Association, Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju directed that the AAC shall take over EFI’s administration and functioning, restraining the existing office-bearers from discharging any function of EFI but rendering all assistance to the AAC as and when requested by the Committee.
It may be recalled that in August 2022, Justice Waziri was part of the Division Bench that had directed the Indian Olympic Association Executive Committee to hand over the day to day administration to a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA), assisted by three eminent sportspersons as consultants.
In the landmark Judgement, Justice Waziri had held that the compliance with the Sports Code is non-negotiable. “If a sports federation does not comply with the law of the land, it will receive no recognition from the Government. All benefits and facilities to it will stop promptly,” he had written in the Judgement on August 16, 2022.
Interestingly, Delhi High Court had chosen Justice (retd.) Waziri as the Chair EFI’s Extraordinary General Meeting held on September 19, 2023. That meeting and events that followed it would have convinced him that it was a surreptitious attempt to let the three remaining EFI office-bearers, including Secretary-General Jaiveer Singh, to remain in office beyond elected terms.
Justice Tara Vitasta Ganju’s judgement makes it clear that Col. Jaiveer Singh’s contention that the EFI EGM had unanimously decided to let the ‘Executive continue after the expiry of its tenure was belied by the extracts of the minutes. In fact, the Court was appalled to find that the transcript of the September 29 meeting placed on record did not match the video recording of the EGM.
The Judgement noted that the minutes of the meeting and the transcript had omitted the fact that the chairman of the meeting, Justice (retd.) Waziri had said on more than one occasion that “You must go to the Court as this matter is pending before the Court” when some members attempted to discuss the extension of the office-bearers.
Even as the Delhi High Court is adjudicating the Rajasthan Equestrian Associations writs – the first on non-compliance of the National Sports Code and the second against the exemption granted to EFI from complying with two important clauses of the Code – Justice (retd.) Waziri and his colleagues will have the opportunity to decide the EFI’s stance now.
After promising the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports several times that it would present a roadmap for compliance with the Code, EFI officials changed tack in the recent years to say that the Federation administers as peculiar sport since equestrianism involves two athletes, a human and a horse.
Very well qouted the entire high court order on EFI
Justice finally prevailed