Former secretary general of the Boxing Federation of India, Jay Kowli declared Wednesday that a division bench of the Bombay High Court has quashed and set aside his suspension by the BFI in 2021.
Kowli informed that the division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Neela Kedar Gokhale of Bombay High Court’s Mumbai bench quashed and set aside BFI’s suspension order against him.
In their order the division bench stated, “In the present case, where the sanction being of penal nature and open-ended giving rise to prejudicial consequences to the Petitioner, we are of the view that in the fact of this case, a personal hearing ought to have been afforded to the Petitioner,” Kowli declared in a release issued Wednesday.
“In consonance with the settled position of law, we hold that considering the prejudicial consequences of the debarment order passed against the Petitioner, personal hearing ought to have been acceded to by the Respondent before reaching a finding of guilt of the Petitioner. Clause Z-A (3) provides as much and when the constitution specifies a certain thing to be done in a certain manner, it should be done in that manner or not at all,” the bench ruled.
“In view of the aforesaid discussion, we have no hesitation in quashing and setting aside the findings and recommendation of the Dispute & Disciplinary Commission dated 8th January 2022, the Resolution passed by the Executive Council in its meeting dated 10th January 2022 relating to the suspension of the Petitioner and the Order dated 20th January 2020 debarring the Petitioner from any boxing activities in the Respondent No.3 Federation and its allied units and they are accordingly set aside.”
Lastly the Bench also added, “After the judgment was pronounced, learned counsel for the Respondent No. 3 (BFI) requests for stay of the order passed today. Considering the findings recorded in the order the request is rejected.”
The BFI executive council suspended Kowli, who served as secretary general from September 25, 2016, to February 2, 2021, claiming misconduct and violation of its regulations after he developed a difference (emphasis ours) with federation president Ajay Singh.
The operative principle for many an Indian national sports federation appears to be the NSF chief’s way or the highway, with the respective executive councils performing merely rubber stamp duties.
Case in point of a more recent example being that pertaining to the All India Football Federation under the dispensation of BJP politician Kalyan Chaubey.
It was in November 2023 that the AIFF summarily sacked its then secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran citing a “trust deficit” between Chaubey and the professional appointee.
It bears noting that Prabhakaran won a stay on his dismissal from the Delhi High Court in December 2023 but it has not made a jot of difference to his status. The same fate more than likely awaits Kowli as well, High Court ruling notwithstanding.
