Delhi High Court restores IOA ad hoc panel for Wrestling Federation of India

Delhi High Court orders restoration of IOA's ad hoc committee to manage Wrestling Federation of India affairs.

The Delhi High Court on Friday (August 16, 2024) ordered restoration of the ad hoc committee constituted by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to manage affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

In an interim order, the Court said the IOA’s decision to dissolve the ad hoc committee was incompatible with the Union Sports Ministry’s order suspending the WFI shortly after the December elections. It said that until the suspension order was recalled, it was necessary for the ad hoc committee to manage the federation’s affairs.

The Court, however, turned down the petitioners’ plea to appoint a retired High Court judge or Supreme Court judge as the administrator of the WFI, and said it would be open to the IOA to re-constitute the ad hoc committee.

“...It shall be open to IOA to reconstitute the ad hoc committee so as to ensure that the same is a multi-member body comprising of eminent sportsperson/s and/or experts who are well-versed in dealing with the international federations, so as to allay any concerns that the UWW [United World Wrestling — the world body for the sport] might have as regards the steps taken qua the WFI,” the Court said.

The Court was hearing a plea by wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik, and her husband Satyawart Kadian for setting aside and declaring as illegal the elections held to elect the office-bearers of the WFI last year.

The wrestlers, who were at the forefront of last year’s protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the arrest of outgoing WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of seven women grapplers, had moved the High Court earlier this year. Their plea also alleged that the WFI is not compliant with the National Sports Development Code, 2011.

Sanjay Singh, a Brij Bhushan loyalist, was elected the new WFI chief in the polls held on December 21, 2023.