India News | HC Stays Ministry of Sports' Decision to Provisionally Renew Recognition of 54 Sports Federations
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed the decision of the
New Delhi, Jun 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed the decision of the
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to provisionally renew the annual recognition of 54 National Sports Federations (NSF) and directed it to "maintain status quo ante".
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A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Najmi Waziri, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, said the ministry tried to "overreach" the order of this court while proceeding to take this decision even if it is provisional in nature, without first approaching the court and seeking its consent.
The decision came under the scanner of the High Court as it had on February 7 directed the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) and Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs (MYSA) to inform the court in advance while seeking to take any decision in relation to the NSFs.
The high court was informed through an application of the ministry that it has proceeded to provisionally renew the annual recognition in respect of 54 NSFs for the year 2020, till September 30.
During the hearing, Central government standing counsel Anil Soni, representing the ministry, conceded that the February 7 order has not been complied with.
As he stated that the ministry may be permitted to withdraw the decision taken and he be permitted to withdraw the present application while reserving the right of the Ministry to file a fresh application, the bench said “we are refraining from imposing any costs on the respondent No.1 (MYSA) for the present”.
“MYSA shall issue a fresh notice within two days intimating all the 54 NSFs concerned that its order giving provisional renewal till September 30, stands recalled. As and when a fresh application is moved by the ministry, the notice shall be placed on record,” the bench said.
During the hearing, advocate and activist Rahul Mehra pointed out that the ministry's June 16 affidavit has stated that the ministry proposes to restore the suspension of recognition three NSFs, namely, Indian Golf Union (IGU), School Games Federation of India (SGFI) and the Rowing Federation of India (RFI).
However, Soni said this is only a proposal and no steps have been taken so far to restore the recognition of the three NSFs.
"The respondent no.1/ MYSA shall maintain status quo ante in respect of the said decision as well, till further orders," the bench said.
After the order was uploaded on the high court website, Mehra tweeted "Since sports is love of my life, I come back only to share this order passed by HC wherein it stayed decision taken by @IndiaSports of (a) provisionally granting annual recognition to 54 NSFs and (b) revoking suspension of Golf, School Games & Rowing Federations of India."
The high court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Mehra in 2010 which had initially sought a probe into the functioning of various sports bodies, including Hockey India and Indian Olympic Association.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)