Delhi High Court today ordered Equestrian Federation of India to not allow institutions and individuals the right to cast votes in its impending elections. Delivering a judgement in the writ filed by the Rajasthan Equestrian Association in 2019, Justice Tushar Rao Gedela paved the way for elections to the EFI Executive Committee and Selection Committee.
“EFI would permit all State and Union Territory Equestrian Associations to cast their votes (two) after fulfilling all the requisite criteria and not unduly prevent them from casting votes,” the Court said, leaving it to the Election Officer to decide the eligibility of each State Association. “EFI must permit 25 per cent of the vote share of the Electoral College to eminent sportspersons to cast votes in keeping with the Sports Code.”
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela barred clubs and units from States and Union Territories where State Associations are available and found eligible by the Election Officer from voting in the EFI elections. To ensure participation of stakeholders where State Associations are not available or found to be ineligible, the Court laid down a method for Clubs and Units to be part of the process.
“In States and Union Territories where State Associations are unavailable or ineligible, clubs/units will cast one vote each, which would be proportionately divided in two votes in all by granting proportionate share to each club/unit. The greater percentage of the votes would be the deciding factor for the respective candidates,” the Court ordered.
In view of the urgency of the situation with the Asian Games around the corner, the Court requested Mr. Justice Ajit Bharihoke (retd.), a former Judge of the Court, to take over as the Election Officer so that the process could be completed soonest. The Court directed EFI to produce and hand over all records to the Election Officer without any undue delay.
This is the second setback for the Federation in the Delhi High Court in a month. Justice Gaurang Kanth had come down heavily on EFI for changing the Asian Games selection criteria during the selection process after its Secretary-General Col. Jaiveer Singh removed elected selectors and challenged riders to earn Minimum Eligibility Requirements within a short span of time.
EFI lists 12 State Associations as its members but more will stake claims to be on the electoral college. Some of the institutions that have lost their voting rights include the Quartermaster General’s Branch, from where EFI traditionally draws its Presidents, RVC Centre and College, ASC Centre and, ironically, Services Sports Control Board.
From January 2013, the Ministry repeatedly asked EFI to comply with the Sports Code. It issued similar directives twice in 2017, causing EFI to state that it was preparing a roadmap for full compliance in four years. The Ministry set August 3, 2019, as the deadline to fall in line but a defiant EFI held it last elections in November 2019.
The Court noted that despite the passage of many years, EFI did not attempt to implement its roadmap to comply with the provisions of the Sports Code. “It is not as if the EFI implemented the roadmap and brought itself around to align with the provisions of the Sports Code and then having failed, addressed such concerns to the Ministry,” the judgement pointed out. “This Court is unable to appreciate as to why EFI did not implement its own roadmap and align itself with the Sports Code.”
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela’s order comes as a massive boost for the State Associations which have been rooting for the implementation of the National Sports Development Code of India 2011. It is a setback for EFI officials who believed that the exemptions, granted by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, from some clauses of the Sports Code would swing things their way.
As many as 13 animal transport companies or battalions, 10 Sainik Schools, six veterinary hospitals including four in Jammu and Kashmir and 1 each in Assam and Uttar Pradesh; two Remount Training Schools and Depots, and two Equine Stud farms and two breeders’ associations are among the ‘clubs’ listed as voting members of EFI.
In a curious development in November 2021, the Ministry gave up its insistence on EFI following the Sports Code and allowed it exemptions from complying with some key clauses. It no longer required EFI to have affiliated units in two-thirds of the States and Union Territories and also allowed EFI to confer voting rights to clubs, individuals and institutions.
The Court opined that relaxation of the Sports Code granted by the Ministry was only with respect to the requirement of minimum 2/3 States having membership of 50 per cent District Associations in a State to be available for the purposes of constituting the State Associations.
“This definitely cannot be read to mean that an open invitation was handed over to the EFI to invite the Clubs/ Units and other Institutions/Individuals from not only becoming the members directly of the EFI but also confer upon them the voting rights contrary to the clear mandate of the Sports Code,” Justice Tushar Rao Gedela wrote.
“That apart, from the manner in which such relaxation/exemption has been implemented, it is clear that the State Associations have now been equated with the Clubs/Units/Institutions, with the power to cast votes, rendering the provisions of the Sports Code otiose. By virtue of the present manner of interpretation, in one stroke, EFI has equated all the components into one single unit taking away the need to have any District Association or even State Association altogether. This definitely cannot be the interpretation of the exemptions granted to the EFI,” the Court ordered.
“By virtue of such exemption, neither the Ministry nor the EFI can dilute or tinker with the provisions of the Sports Code. Till such time the EFI is unable to implement its roadmap, certain relaxations may be necessitated, however, taking the exemptions to such absurd levels which would directly affect the mandate of the Sports Code would be impermissible. In any case, the conferring of right to vote cannot be granted as largesse by EFI upon components which are not otherwise qualified to cast vote,” Justice Tushar Rao Gedela ordered.
The judgement can help Equestrian Sport in India find wings again. Despite the two silver medals won in the Asian Games 2018 in Jakarta and the fine effort by Fouaad Mirza in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, the Federation dragged its feet instead of focusing on popularising the sport across the country.
This piece was first published on RevSportz here.
