Vinesh Phogat case: Meet Harish Salve who is representing Indian Olympic Association

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat's case will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport at 12.30pm IST.

Harish Salve, India's top lawyer, will represent the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in the case related to the disqualification of wrestler Vinesh Phogat at the Paris Olympics.

A file photo of Harish Salve. (ANI)

Vinesh Phogat made history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final at an Olympics. She first defeated defending world and Olympic champion Yui Susaki from Japan, the first international loss of her career. Later, Vinesh Phogat beat Cuba's Yusneylys Guzman 5-0 in the semi-final match.

However, Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris Olympics after she was found 100gm overweight. She was stripped of a podium finish despite ensuring at least a silver after becoming the first Indian female wrestler to enter an Olympic final. Phogat also announced retirement from wrestling the next day.

She also moved the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against her disqualification and demanded a joint silver to be awarded. The ad hoc hearing at CAS is scheduled to start at 9:00 AM local time (12:30 PM IST), news agency ANI reported.

Harish Salve, who has served as the former Solicitor General of India and King's Counsel, confirmed to ANI that he has been engaged by the IOA to represent Phogat.

Who is Harish Salve?

Harish Salve studied LLB from Nagpur University. He was appointed senior advocate at the Delhi high court in 1992. He also served as the Solicitor General of India from November 1999 to November 2002.

Harish Salve has been part of several high-profile cases, including that of Kulbhushan Jadhav, who was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying. He charged only ₹1 in legal fees for representing Kulbhushan Jadhav, and his gesture earned him a lot of praise.

Among some of his prominent clients include Tata Group, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, and ITC Group. Salve had also appeared in the Krishna Godavari Basin gas dispute case against Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Ltd.

In 2012, Salve helped Vodafone win a ₹1,1000-crore tax case against the government. He has also defended Keshub Mahindra in the Bhopal gas tragedy case, and represented the Delhi police in the case of the midnight crackdown on supporters of Baba Ramdev.

In 2015, Salve was awarded one of India’s highest awards – the Padma Bhushan. In the same year, Salve took up Salman Khan's hit-and-run case of 2002 who was earlier sentenced to five years in jail. Khan was acquitted of all charges for the 2002 hit-and-run and drunk-and-drive case following the Bombay high court's decision in December 2015.

In 2018, he appeared for the Union government in the Supreme Court over the Cauvery water dispute.

In January last year, Salve was appointed as the Queen's Counsel for the courts of Wales and England.