NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has sought the Centre’s response on a plea for appointment of an administrator to hold fresh elections to the Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) currently suspended by world governing body FIVB.
The plea sought that the elections for the office bearers should be held according to the National Sports Code.
A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, VFI and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and sought their stand on the PIL which has said that if VFI continues to be suspended then the Indian volleyball team may not be able to participate in the 2018 Asian Games scheduled to be held in August, PTI reports.
The development puts a potential spoke in the wheels of plans by sports marketing and branding firm Baseline Ventures, which had entered into a ten-year commercial rights agreement with the faction headed by VFI general secretary Ramavtar Singh Jakhar to launch a franchise based league in the country.
It was in February that Baseline announced the Professional Indian Volleyball League with franchises in major cities to be held in October. If all goes according to plan, the league, for the first time in India, will have franchises owning both men and women’s teams.
The bid documents for the franchises for the new League were expected to be released by the middle of April but there is no word as yet on that.
Coming back to the PIL, which was moved through advocate Rahul Mehra on behalf of various volleyball players, the petition says that the FIVB, which suspended VFI, had said that its order will remain in effect till fresh polls are held to select office bearers of the sports body.
The plea has contended that elections are urgent as selection, training and participation of players for the Asian Games would depend on revocation of the suspension of VFI, apart from restoring its recognition, PTI further reports.
The petition claimed there was infighting in the VFI which resulted in its affairs “not being attended to properly”.
It has also alleged that the last elections held in the sports body in April 2016 were conducted in complete violation of the National Sports Code especially the ‘Model Election Guidelines’ stipulated therein.
The plea has also sought directions to the ministry to conduct an independent investigation into the matter and BAR (emphasis ours) all those members of VFI who have been responsible for gross misconduct in the day-to-day administration of the sports body.
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