NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Monday issued notice to the Centre on a petition filed by Manika Batra against the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).
Justice Rekha Palli granted two days to the Central government counsel to take instructions on the petition, which alleges that on one occasion, national coach Soumyadeep Roy pressurized Batra to throw away a match to enable one of his personal trainees to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 and seeks that the Union Sports Ministry institute an inquiry into the running of the TTFI.
“There is something to be said. We have a high ranking player. We have to balance… If there are such senior allegations against the coach, Union of India has to be a little bit proactive on this,” Justice Rekha Palli stated in her oral observations.
“Let them (Centre) come back with instructions. Ultimately she is the highest-ranking player in the country today,” the judge added.
Senior counsel Sachin Dutta, appearing for Batra, said that by virtue of a rule on mandatorily attending the national camp, his client’s chance for the 25th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships, 2021, which is to be held in Doha from September-October, has been scuttled in spite of her fulfilling all merit-based criteria.
He urged the court to stay the rule to enable her to participate in another international event scheduled for November.
“There is an event in November. This regulation be stayed immediately. It will kill my career,” Dutta said as he highlighted that personal coaching is encouraged in several other sports.
The counsel for the federation has denied all allegations.
Justice Palli has set the next date of hearing for September 23.
