The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) finds itself in the High Court of Delhi yet again. Unlike the last time when a player sought and got its intervention, now it is the suspended Secretary-General Kamlesh Mehta, a former international player, who has moved Court against the action of the Executive Committee.
Kamlesh Mehta has sought the quashing of Article 11 of the TTFI’s Memorandum of Association – It allows the office-bearers to effectively suspend and declare a person as a persona non grata – and declare it violative of the principles of natural justice. He has also prayed for his suspension to be set aside and restore his powers as TTFI Secretary-General.
He has also challenged the appointment of the Enquiry Committee comprising Chetan Gurung, Samar Jeet Singh and L Sundara Varadhan to look into the allegations of procedural breaches, governance failures and financial irregularities made against him. He has cited that they were party to the now challenged decision to suspend him and are therefore prejudiced against him.
On January 28, the TTFI Executive Committee suspended Kamlesh Mehta exercised the powers vested under the Memorandum of Association to declare a persona non grata for a specified period, pending inquiry, if such a person is found likely to endanger the harmony or affect the character, stability and interests of the Federation.
TTFI President Megna Ahlawat and Secretary-General Kamlesh Mehta, hailing from different panels, have not been on the same page since the 2022 elections, accusing one other of irregularities and of working unilaterally.
With the President reportedly not responding to the Secretary-General’s request to schedule the annual general meeting in December 2025, TTFI ended up with not publishing its annual calendar and thus drawing a show cause notice from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Things came to a head when a special general meeting was held in Mumbai on January 17 this year and an annual general meeting was held in Delhi on January 28.
Kamlesh Mehta’s Writ Petition was listed to come up before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav but because he was on leave, the matter was taken up by Justice Sachin Datta. After hearing some arguments, Justice Datta posted it for next week. Senior counsel Abhishek Malhotra represented Kamlesh Mehta while Rahul Mehra, a fervent advocate of the National Sports Development Code, appeared for TTFI.
