The Indian Golf Union elections drew to a ‘close’ on Sunday, but the last has not been heard on this front. The two factions conducted the IGU Annual General Meeting in separate venues, 10km apart, in New Delhi and the two Returning Officers announcing their sets of results that were poles apart.
An IGU Annual General Meeting was held at the India Habitat Centre, the venue that had been intimated to the members in the notice on November 14. A new set of office-bearers declared elected by Returning Office Justice (retd.) Rameshwar Singh Malik, former Judge of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, ‘assumed office’.
Around the same time, an IGU Annual General Meeting was held at the Olympic Bhavan. “The vitiation of conditions for a free and fair conduct of the meeting, due to several acts of IGU President Brijender Singh to interfere with the elections, was cited as the reason for the change of venue. The Executive Council election results declared by Returning Officer Justice (retd.) OP Garg were adopted.
The release issued after the meeting at the Habitat Centre said the IGU would strengthen the National Squad system, the partnerships with R&A and Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, enhance the National Golf Academy of India (NGAI), make all State Associations compliant under IGU byelaws and create a centre of excellence to build bench strength.
However, as things stand, the dispute may end up being heard by the Delhi High Court. A number of issues will crop up, not the least being the changes made to the Electoral College, both by the IGU President Brijender Singh and by Justice Garg who first disqualified some State associations only to reinstate them the following day.
Brijender Singh’s claim that Justice Garg (retd.) had resigned and hence he appointed a new Returning Officer in his place will come under sharp scrutiny, especially in the apparent absence of a resignation letter and the statement of Justice Garg (retd.) himself that he had not quit his position at all.
To be sure, the High Court of Delhi has already heard a Writ Petition by the Bengal Golf Association against IGU President Brijender Singh’s decision to exclude it from the Electoral College. Justice Prateek Jalan decided that it would be inappropriate to interfere with the election process.
Of course, at some stage soon, the International Golf Federation will also have to get interested in the dispute resolution since both factions will presumably write in with their own claims of being the official set of office-bearers.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, which appears to have sent an observer to the AGM in the India Habitat Centre, will also have to weigh in, though it has not renewed its recognition of National Sports Federations this year.
As per its latest Annual Report, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports incurred Rs 64.93 lakh expenditure in respect of IGU between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. According to details available on the IGU website, it shown an amount of Rs 58.08 lakh as revenues generated by IGU on its own.
When you consider that it is the professional players who represent the country in the Olympic Games and Asian Games and the IGU does little more than stage a few tournaments for amateurs, you may wonder what the hullabaloo is all about. If its officials put their heads together to resolve election matters, their ability to govern the sport will come into question.
