NEW DELHI: Court intervention has come into play over yet another sports federation administrator treating the body as his personal fiefdom.
The Delhi High Court, in a strongly worded judgment, has set aside “the arbitrary, illegal and unethical appointment of friends and family members” by Ashok Singh, president, Delhi Capital Badminton Association, to fill six key posts of the DCBA executive committee.
The Court order further set aside the “arbitrary, illegal and mala fide resolution passed by the executive committee (comprising of illegally appointed members) during an “emergency meeting” held on 06.02.2018”.
For the record, the case has its origins in a factional feud that took place in the erstwhile Delhi Badminton Association which ultimately resulted in a breakaway faction creating a rival body – DCBA. To cut long story short, DCBA managed to get the recognition of the national body Badminton Association of India (BAI), which essentially “disenfranchised” the earlier unified DBA.
Legal claims and counter claims ensued till a compromise settlement was reached in 2017 wherein DBA agreed to dissolve itself as a registered society and it was agreed that the members of DBA would merge with DCBA. As per the settlement, it was also agreed that with elections would be held two years down the line in July-August 2019.
All good except that the erstwhile DBA general secretary SP Singh Dhillon, who after the settlement was named to the same position in the merged DCBA, and Singh were at loggerheads from the get go.
Matters came to a head in February 2018 when Singh called an emergency meeting of the DCBA executive committee (packed with his supporters) which initiated an inquiry against Dhillon, accusing him of unspecified “corrupt practices and unlawful activities” and suspending him pending completion of the inquiry.
Dhillon moved the courts challenging both his suspension and the manner in which the DCBA executive committee was constituted. It is on the case brought by Dhillon against the DCBA, that the High Court has ruled.
The DCBA has now submitted before the High Court that the election is now scheduled to be held in July-August, as per the constitution of the association, and all members would have an equal opportunity for seeking election as office bearers.
Following the Delhi High Court ruling, the BAI has launched an investigation into the functioning of the DCBA.
Dhillon has further alleged that that the DCBA is involved in misappropriation of funds and that its accounts have not been audited for years.
