Delhi HC appoints administrative committee for Equestrian Federation of India

New Delhi, May 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has appointed an ad-hoc administrative committee under its retired judge to run the affairs of the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) following allegations of “impropriety” in its functioning.

Justice Tara V Ganju said, ordinarily, a court does not interfere in the administration of a national sports federation but when there is “clear impropriety” and the administration is being carried on in an “arbitrary” or “perverse” manner, the situation cannot be ignored.

The court said the ad-hoc administrative committee (AAC) shall have former high court judge Justice Najmi Waziri as its chairperson, former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi as observer/member and advocate Rohini Musa as member.

The order came on a petition by Rajasthan Equestrian Association.

“Pending the conduct of elections, EFI cannot be left without any office bearers.. This Court cannot in good conscience leave the functioning of the EFI solely in the hands of those office bearer(s) whose tenure has expired and who are acting in a capricious manner and in violation of the directives of the court,” said the court in an order passed on May 21.

“Accordingly, the interest of justice would be served if an ad-hoc Administrative Committee is appointed to supervise the administration of the Respondent No. 1/EFI,” the court ordered.

The court said the committee shall take over charge of day-to-day administration and functioning of the EFI and the existing office bearers shall no longer be entitled to discharge any function but render all requisite assistance to the committee.

The AAC shall be authorised to make appropriate arrangements for the governance of the EFI until the elections are held, the court said.

It said a report shall be submitted within 10 days to the AAC setting out all decisions that have been taken by the EFI from September 29, 2023 till date and that the decision of the chairman shall be final and binding on the federation.

It also sought a status report from the AAC on the EFI’s functioning within six weeks.

The petitioner has sought a restraint on holding of elections to the executive committee of the EFI which were scheduled to be held in September 2019 at its annual general meeting (AGM).

The petitioner has alleged that the EFI was conducting elections in contravention of the National Sports Development Code, 2011 by extending voting rights to clubs and ineligible institutions.