NEW DELHI: The faction-riven Volleyball Federation of India has suffered yet another setback after global audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers issuing a ‘cease and desist’ order addressed to the secretary general of the VFI over its unwarranted use, in an ongoing arbitration dispute, of a confidential report prepared by PwC.
The arbitration case links back to the letter of termination VFI had issued in November 2019 to Baseline Ventures Pvt Ltd, the sports marketing agency that held commercial rights to the one-season old franchise based Pro Volleyball League. Widespread manipulation of accounts was the pricipal charge VFI levelled against Baseline to justify cancelling the PVL contract.
The VFI had presented the PwC report to the arbitrator in their ongoing litigation with Baseline Ventures, which is seeking damages for the arbitrary cancellation of their marketing rights for PVL.
In the letter, accessed by Sportzpower, the PwC counsel writes: “We are hereby submitting for your record and due consideration, an application in the ongoing dispute between Baseline Ventures vs Volleyball Federation of India, seeking removal of the said Confidential Report be returned and removed from the records of the ongoing arbitration proceedings. The said Confidential Report could not have been shared with any third party or produced in any third party dispute resolution.”
The application goes on to say that “the service provided was not of an audit but of a review based solely on information supplied by the Respondent (VFI)”.
This is the latest in a series of setbacks to the VFI after their cancellation of Baseline’s rights to PVL. Season 2 of the fledgling league, which was supposed to be held in February, had already signed up their presenting sponsors and the FIVB had given its complete support for the event, with the world governing body’s president Ary S Graca having committing to attend the finals.
And while the unsavoury fracas meant that PVL’s second season was left hanging fire, in February, the Union Sports Ministry sent a letter to the VFI demanding that they hold elections by March 20th putting paid to the VFI’s claims that the term of the current set of office bearers expired only in 2021.
FIVB had provisionally suspended VFI in December 2016
The Sports Ministry’s directive to hold elections is relevant to the case as it was only in May 2018 that the FIVB provisionally lifted the suspension it had imposed on the VFI in December 2016 and formed an ad-hoc commission to run the affairs of the national body. Why? What else but the bane of many of India’s national sports bodies – factional feuds. In the case of the VFI on one side was its then president Chaudhary Avadhesh Kumar and on the other was its secretary-general Ramavtar Singh Jakhar.
It was only after the FIVB’s action that the Sports Ministry followed suit and provisionally recognised the VFI.
What needs noting is that the condition that FIVB had set in May 2018 for lifting the suspension was that the issue of its president be settled as per the Indian legal system within six months (emphasis ours). It comes as no surprise that the condition set by the FIVB was given the royal ignore by the two VFI factions.
Fast forward to 2020, the two factions held separate elections (but naturally) on March 12th and March 15th in Jaipur and in Chennai respectively, with two separate ballots. The matter but naturally landed in the courts. The Outcome? The results of both these ballots have been sealed and the case is being heard by a two Judge Bench of the Chennai High Court.
It is also worth noting that one of the candidates in the elections in Chennai, Rajya Sabha MP Anil Agarwal, had also sent a letter to the arbitrator questioning the right of Jakhar – the now former secretary general – to represent the VFI.
So what gives as far PVL is concerned? It’s all up in the air. Not just for Baseline, but also for Jakhar, who was leading the moves from within the VFI to market its own league, having even announced a start date of February 25th, but eventually had to pull back with scant interest forthcoming from either broadcasters or potential team owners.
