SC dismisses appeal against Delhi HC order on administrators to manage Hockey India

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi high court decision to form a committee of administrators (CoA) to manage Hockey India (HI) till its constitution is amended to bring it in line with the National Sports Development Code.

A bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and JB Pardiwala also directed the CoA headed by former Supreme Court judge, justice Anil R Dave (retd) to expeditiously prepare the draft constitution for Hockey India to enable the newly elected executive committee to make logistical arrangements ahead of the upcoming FIH (International Hockey Federation) Men’s World Cup scheduled to take place from January 13-29, 2023 at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.

Besides justice Dave, the committee also has former chief election commissioner (CEC) SY Qureshi and former Olympian and captain of Indian hockey team Zafar Iqbal.

“We find that the HC order does not warrant any interference…We underscore the importance of CoA actively engaging with FIH to bring HI in conformity with the National Sports Code and draft the constitution on an expeditious footing in order to allow the newly elected executive committee to provide logistical arrangements for conducting the FIH Men’s World Cup,” the bench said.

The high court directed the CoA to hold elections and hand over the affairs of HI to the newly elected body within 20 weeks.

The high court’s May 25 order came on a petition filed by former hockey player Aslam Sher Khan who challenged the lifetime appointment of president Narendra Dhruv Batra and Elena Norman as ‘life member’ and chief executive officer which gave them unlimited tenure and voting rights in the executive committee.

HI secretary general Rajinder Singh and Hockey Karnataka challenged the high court order in the top court.

Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Amit Sibal said that the HI constitution was amended in January 2021 to abolish the posts of life president and remove the voting rights of life members. They argued that the existing managing committee constituted on October 1, 2018 should be allowed to complete its four-year tenure that comes to an end in October 2022 without being superseded by the CoA.

Senior advocate Gopal Shankarnaraynan appearing for Aslam Sher Khan told the court that there were other reasons too that weighed with the high court in passing the order.

He showed a criminal case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last month against HI president Narinder Batra and other HI officials for alleged misappropriation of funds to the tune of ₹35 lakh. He added that the International Hockey Federation was in touch with CoA and has expressed its willingness to cooperate with CoA to bring HI in line with the Sports Code.

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