The secretive manner in which Equestrian Federation of India amended its Statutes at the Annual General Meeting on March 27 last has come into question. Even if done with the intention of complying with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, after being exempt from some clauses, the way in which changes were made can only be called strange.
Members were called upon to read the proposed changes flashed on a screen. They had no inkling that they would be voting on critical constitutional and electoral reforms since the Notice for the meeting made no mention of this monumental task undertaken to fall in line with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports’ persistent demand for EFI to comply with the Code.
To be sure, the objections surfaced even during the Annual General Meeting where the amendments to the EFI Statutes were passed. A reading of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held in the Defence Services Officers’ Institute in the Capital, it is clear that even when the Secretary-General introduced the changes as part of his annual report, a few surprised members protested that the amendments cannot be carried out without notice to members.
Their objections were over-ruled.
First, the Secretary-General Col. Jaiveer Singh took refuge by saying that the Statutes did not specifically mention such a thing. Then, he explained that it was not mentioned as part of the Agenda circulated with the Notice of the Meeting because it was included as part of the Secretary’s Report. “The house over-ruled the objections,” the Minutes notes.
Three days earlier, at its meeting at the Army Battle Honours Mess in Chankyapuri, New Delhi, the EFI Executive Committee approved the Secretary-General’s proposal to make amendments to the EFI Statutes, ostensibly to fall in line with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011.
Even a cursory look at the Minutes of the two meetings will be enough to convince even a layperson how casually EFI takes something as serious as a Constitutional amendments. It appears as item No. 31 as part of the Secretary-General’s report after, for example, considering things like remunerations for Officials for FEI events, digitalisation of old files etc.
Suggestions in the Annual General Meeting that EFI should not take up the amendments of its Statutes because the matter is sub-judice were ignored. The AGM put the amendments to the EFI Statutes and the Election Bye-Laws to vote and the motion was passed 111-8.
Curiously, the EFI brass took refuge behind the term ‘sub-judice’ in deciding not to make public the Report of the Enquiry Committee that investigated the fielding Indian riders as the Nepal team in a World Cup Tent-Pegging Qualifier in Greater Noida. The EFI Executive shared the action taken against the riders but said the report would not be made public.
It should not come as a surprise if any of the aggrieved parties seeks the Delhi High Court’s intervention to annul the amendments made. For, these amendments were carried out without seeking the Court’s approval when it has been hearing a case for more than two years and even disqualified two officers from holding President and Vice-President’s (administration) office.
In July 2020, 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. These two officers had only recently been nominated to these positions upon taking charge as Quartermaster General and Director-General, Supplies & Transport in the Army.
And now, with the incumbent Quartermaster General getting ready to demit office upon superannuation and with Lt. Gen. Rajinder Dewan getting ready to take over as Quartermaster General, you can expect the EFI to quickly take steps to approve his Life Membership so that it can possibly nominate him as EFI President if and when the Delhi High Court allows that.
