The Delhi High Court has appointed Justice P Krishna Bhat, former judge of the Karnataka High Court, as administrator of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) to conduct elections in the faction-ridden national body “at the earliest”.
The appointment is effective immediately, and the administrator will continue to function until a newly-elected body takes charge of BFI. Until then, the administrator will manage BFI affairs with the assistance and cooperation of the Government of India, Sports Ministry and BFI.
In a 77-page verdict, single Judge Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, instructed the administrator to ensure that the election process is concluded as soon as possible according to the Sports Code.
This ruling was made in response to several petitions regarding the election of office bearers and executive committee members for the term 2023-2027.
The court noted numerous questionable aspects in the previous election process such as “non-selection of a neutral place for conducting the election, belated communication of AGM meeting of election to the Government of India in order to allow it to timely appoint its representative for observing the elections as per Sports Code, non-inclusion of names of some of the members in the electoral college compelling them to approach this court….rejection of en bloc nomination forms of petitioners on a singular ground, virtually reducing the election to a non-contested one…etc.”
