Boxing body polls get Delhi HC nod, with a caveat

The outcome of the August 21 elections will be subject to the court’s ruling on petitions by 4 state units

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday allowed the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) to proceed with its elections scheduled for August 21.

BFI elections are set to be held on August 21. (HT)

However, a bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna clarified that the elections held would be subject to the outcome of petitions filed by four state associations — Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh — challenging the BFI interim committee’s decision to hold the polls and the validity of the amended constitution. She added that the election process could be set aside if found to be unlawful.

The court directive came after the counsel for the Delhi Amateur Boxing Association (DABA) submitted that the electoral process initiated by the interim committee — comprising members from the previous executive committee — was illegal as it was based on a newly amended constitution that was unilaterally adopted without following the mandatory ratification procedure.

He further argued that the amendment — mandating that contesting candidates be elected members of state units at the time of the election — effectively undermined a prior court order that had stayed a similar circular. To be sure, the high court had in March stayed BFI’s circular that permitted elected members to contest the polls.

The three state units represented by advocate Chaitanya Mahajan contended that the formation of the interim committee was flawed as it was in violation of World Boxing’s directive requiring the inclusion of a nominee from the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

The BFI interim committee’s lawyer said that the new constitution had been approved by World Boxing and accepted by 30 of the 34 state units.

“These elections are happening on August 21. You (BFI) go ahead with your elections. I’m not stopping you. I’ve already made it clear that it will be subject to the outcome of the writ petition, and in case you’ve done something which is not as per law, the court will take note of that and then pass orders. Sports is no longer sports, it is politics, actually. The constitution cannot be against the sports code and the rules. I’m not giving any stamp of approval for that (amended statute),” Justice Pushkarna remarked.

“This court notes the submissions made that the elections that are being held are against the tenor of the national sports code as well as in complete violation of the constitution of the BFI and model election guidelines. If that is the case, this court has already clarified that the elections shall be subject to the outcome of the present writ petitions.

“In case this court, at the time of final hearing of the matters, comes to the conclusion that there have been violations of the national sports code or BFI’s constitution has been amended in a wrongful manner, appropriate orders shall be passed by this court. It is further clarified that no special equity shall be claimed by the newly elected executive of the BFI,” the court said in its order.

The BFI elections were initially set for March 28, but were delayed due to litigation that led to WB setting up an interim committee with Ajay Singh, the previous president, as its head. On July 31, Singh issued a notice for convening an annual general meeting (AGM), calling for fresh nominations from the state units based on a new constitution. The amended statute mandates that the contesting candidate must be “an elected member of the State/UT member association during the election AGM duly notified to BFI and in the presence of a BFI observer.”

A day later, the interim panel appointed Justice (retd) Rajesh Tandon as the Returning Officer. Singh resigned as the interim committee head on August 2 to contest for the president’s post for a third term. This led to WB designating Fairuz Mohamed as the interim panel’s head.