NEW DELHI: The Union Sports Ministry and the Indian Olympic Association stated on Tuesday that they have decided to approach the Supreme Court to challenge a Delhi High Court order which prohibits the ministry from taking any decision on grant of recognition to national federations.
The matter pertains to a petition filed in 2010 by advocate Rahul Mehra seeking directions to the Centre to ensure that the IOA and the National Sports Federations (NSFs) perform their duties well.
In February this year, the Delhi High Court barred the ministry from taking any decision on NSFs without consulting the court. As a result, the ministry had to withdraw recognition granted to 57 NSFs. “We are filing a Special Leave Petition in a day or two. We are challenging the Delhi HC order (which has told ministry) not to take any decision relating to sports federations without informing it,” a sports ministry source told PTI.
IOA president Narinder Batra and secretary Rajeev Mehta also sent out a short joint statement, saying that the body will approach the apex court as it is a party to the case. “We (IOA) are planning to soon approach Hon’ble Supreme Court in relation to Rahul Mehra case,” PTI quotes from the IOA statement.
On August 7, the ministry had requested the HC to modify the order and allow at least the grant of recognition to the NSFs but the court rejected that plea and asked for a National Sports Code compliance report. The Ministry then sent across a questionnaire to the NSFs seeking the age and tenure details of their office-bearers. A total of 56 NSFs responded and the matter was to come up for hearing in the High Court on August 21, the newswire reports.
However, the date of hearing has since been pushed back to September 18.
