Delhi HC seeks NADA reply on plea filed by wrestler Bajrang Punia on suspension

Justice Sanjeev Narula issued notice to the agency on the plea which has been filed ahead of the Senior World Wrestling Championships to be held in Albania in October

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on a petition by wrestler Bajrang Punia challenging his suspension.

The court, however, questioned Punia on his refusal to submit a sample for the testing. (Facebook | Bajrang Punia)

On June 21, NADA had re-imposed a provisional suspension on Bajrang and issued a formal notice of charge, rendering him ineligible to train and participate in competitions. The notice was issued after the Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel (ADDP) had revoked his first provisional suspension on June 3, until issuance of formal notice of charge.

A bench of justice Sanjeev Narula issued notice in Bajrang’s petition and fixed October 16 as the next date of hearing.

The suspension order, Punia’s plea stated, will prevent him from competing at the Senior World Wrestling Championships to be held in Albania from 28 to 31 October 2024, owing to which he would be forced to retire from the sport.

Besides seeking to quash the order, the wrestler has also sought for independent investigation into NADA’s alleged role expired sample test kits and suspicious cover-up by the country’s anti-doping watchdog.

“The Respondent is the sole anti-doping regulatory authority in India and as such, has the responsibility of ensuring clean sports and thus, it is absolutely unacceptable for the Respondent to itself be violating the applicable rules and guidelines and engaging in such arbitrary, illegal, negligent and non-transparent conduct,” the plea added.

Punia represented by senior advocate Rajiv Dutta asserted that his client was seeking to set aside the order and grant him a hearing before the ADDP.

He argued that there is no provision for provisional suspension.

The lawyer argued that his client had never refused to give a sample but only demanded NADA’s response to his email where he sought answers why expired kits were sent to take his sample in December 2023. He pointed out that the officers who had approached him for dope testing during the selection trials in March were not even authorised to collect his sample, but his client was ready to give his sample.

Opposing the petition, NADA’s counsel argued that it had already constituted a disciplinary panel to adjudicate on the provisional suspension and had also scheduled a final hearing. The petition in the middle of the process of adjudication, the counsel said, was derailing the process before the panel.

The counsel further argued that Punia had outrightly refused to give his sample when the official had approached him for testing.