NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday effectively scuppered ongoing machination to ensure status quo in the the scandal-ridden Wrestling Federation of India after it ordered that the election process of the WFI commence immediately.
The order came after a Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and SV Bhatti stayed the Gauhati High Court's order that had put on hold the much delayed WFI elections.
It bears noting that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), which the Union Sports Ministry has tasked with running the affairs of the disgraced national body till elections are held and a new leadership team is in place, had (after multiple date changes) most recently set July 11 as the poll date.
The top court passed the order on a petition filed by Andhra Pradesh Amateur Wrestling Association (APAWA), and issued notices to the Sports Ministry, WFI, Assam Wrestling Association (AWA) and others on a plea challenging the June 25 order of the high court.
The Gauhati HC had on June 25 stayed the WFI elections while hearing a petition filed by AWA belatedly claiming right to participate in the polls.
PTI reports that the counsel appearing for APAWA told the Bench that the elections to WFI were getting delayed after a third party (AWA) appeared before the High Court on Sunday and got the matter stayed.
The Bench then proceeded to issue notice and stayed the HC order.
In its petition before the top court, the APAWA submitted the HC passed the order on a Sunday without any notice to it or any other voter or state associations that are members of WFI.
"It is a settled principle of law that once the election process has been set in motion, it should not be interdicted and any grievances that the contestants and/or voters may have, may be later agitated by way of an election petition," PTI quotes the plea filed through advocate Anuj Tyagi as having stated.
Reacting on the apex court order, RK Purushottam, executive member of the WFI and president of AWA, told PTI that the election process should start immediately.
"The court said the election process should start on an immediate basis, I am hoping to get a full order soon. We decided last week that we have to move to the apex court since the elections were getting delayed unnecessarily. The Assam association is not active for the last 10 years. It is almost closed. That's why we challenged the high court order. Two elections were held earlier but Assam did not come forward then," Purushottam said.
The HC had on Monday fixed July 28 as the next date for hearing the petition filed by AWA.
The AWA had sought stalling of the election process unless it was granted affiliation to the WFI and allowed to nominate its representative to the electoral college.
For the record, June 25 was the last date to submit the names for the electoral college.
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