NEW DELHI: A little under two years since the current set of office bearers of the All India Carrom Federation (AICF) were elected to office, the Union Sports Ministry has given conditional recognition to the AICF.
The Sports Ministry’s move follows the ruling of a Division Bench of the Delhi High Court on August 31, that empowered the AICF to function, and thereby making infructuous an order of the ministry issued in February 2016 that resulted in the setting up of an ad-hoc committee to govern the game.
“It has been decided to grant conditional recognition to the All India Carrom Federation to be managed by the following office bearers, elected during the elections held on 29-11-2015 at Guwahati and as communicated by the government observer — Rakibul Hussain (president), Vivek Dheesh Narayan (general secretary) and Arun Ramakant Kedar (treasurer),” the recent government order, accessed by The Hindu, states.
It was also clarified that the AICF would be eligible to avail various facilities/concessions under various schemes of the government.
However, it was specifically stated that the subsequent decision would depend on the final outcome of the proceedings in the writ petition pending before the Delhi High Court.
“We are inclined to stay the operation of the orders dated 4.2.2016 and 8.2.2016 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports till the learned Single Judge takes up either the hearing of the stay application and/or the writ petition itself,” the order, issued by the Division Bench following a review petition, reads.
The Union government was directed to take corrective steps and issue Railway concession forms, etc. and “upload on relevant websites the results” of the election held in Guwahati in November 2015, “and pass orders in recognition of the appellant federation and its office bearers,” the daily further reports.
