HC junks WFI order to dissolve Sharad Pawar-led state wrestling committee

The bench also held that the WFI decision was not taken in sporting spirit, was unreasonable and unenforceable and hence quashed and set aside subsequent elections held by ad-hoc committee of the MSWA on July 31

Mumbai The Bombay high court on Wednesday set aside the June 30 decision of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) to dissolve the elected executive committee of Maharashtra State Wrestling Association (MSWA), led by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. The bench also held that the WFI decision was not taken in sporting spirit, was unreasonable and unenforceable and hence quashed and set aside subsequent elections held by ad-hoc committee of the MSWA on July 31.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar gestures while he speaks during an interview at his residence in Breach Candy, Mumbai. (HT Photo/Kalpak Pathak)

The single-judge bench of justice Sandeep Shinde which had heard the petition filed by MSWA through advocates I K Tripathi and Tushar Pawar said, “I hold that the Resolution passed in the Meeting of the Executive Committee of WFI, on 30th June, 2022 to dissolve and to supersede the petitioner-Association, was unreasonable, illegal and unenforceable. In consequence thereof, the election held on 31st July, 2022 by the Ad-Hoc Committee of the Maharashtra State Wrestling Association, pursuant to notice dated 11th July, 2022 being illegal, it is quashed and set aside. In the result, the elected body of the petitioner-Association, shall hold the office till its’ tenure comes to an end and shall carry on its day-to-day functions in accordance with its Constitution.”

Tripathi had submitted that the committee was controlled by Pawar for nearly four decades. However, in a June 30 meeting of the WFI’s national executive, the national body, headed by BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, decided to dissolve the said committee, citing the state body’s failure to conduct certain tournaments. The MSWA said that such a decision was taken in an “arbitrary” manner and the state body’s control was handed over to Ramdas Tadas, BJP MP from the Wardha constituency.

The bench had been informed that the committee headed by Pawar was elected in 2019 for five years and its tenure was to end in 2023. The association had challenged a July 4 WFI communication through which the committee’s general secretary B S Landge was informed that their panel had been dissolved and an ad hoc committee had been appointed for the functioning of the association. The reason attributed for the decision, according to the WFI communication, was that it had received complaints of misconduct against Landge.

The bench was also informed that the action following the communication was also illegal as neither was the existing committee asked to explain or defend itself against the allegations nor was its subsequent appeal before the WFI president challenging “sudden dissolution” of the MSWA’s elected executive committee led by Pawar given a proper hearing. Aggrieved by this the MSWA was prompted to file the writ petition in the HC.

Tripathi had also submitted that the WFI was not empowered to dissolve the elected governing council of its unit member, as it was subject to the administrative, inquisitive and supervisory control of the Charity Commissioner under Section 3 of the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act and hence the dissolution decision was not as per law and against the “principles of natural justice.”

In his order justice Shinde observed, “Before superseding and/or dissolving the elected body of petitioner-MSW, neither Association was heard, nor its elected Governing Council Members were apprised of the allegations-cum-charges, which forced WFI to dissolve the State Body, although tenure of the Council Members, is yet to come to an end. Therefore, the decision of the Executive Committee of WFI was, not only in breach of principles of natural justice, but behind their back.”