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The observation by the bench came while hearing a plea moved by the
Sports Ministry seeking permission to grant provisional annual recognition to
57 NSFs so that they can commence training of sportspersons for the Olympics
next year.
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New Delhi(Agencies): The
Delhi High Court on Friday said the practice of granting provisional
recognition to National Sports Federations (NSFs) in the country without
ascertaining whether they are following the sports code cannot be allowed to go
on.
“We won’t allow the provisional system to go
on without the NSFs following the sports code. That is not going to happen. Ask
the NSFs to put their house in order,” a bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Najmi
Waziri said.The observation by the bench came while hearing a plea moved by the
Sports Ministry seeking permission to grant provisional annual recognition to
57 NSFs so that they can commence training of sportspersons for the Olympics
next year.
It, however, issued notice to
advocate Rahul Mehra and sought his stand on the application which has been
filed in his petition moved in 2010 for probe into various sports bodies.
It was on his petition that
the high court had directed in the past that all the NSFs have to adhere to the
National Sports Code.
The high court also asked
Mehra to indicate in his affidavit which of the 57 NSFs were not adhering to
the sports code and which are, so that provisional recognition may be granted
to those complying with the code.
Additional Solicitor General
Chetan Sharma and central government standing counsel Anil Soni, appearing for
the ministry, urged the bench for an interim order granting permission to
provisionally recognise the NSFs in view of various sporting events, including
Olympics, which are scheduled to occur in the next several months.
They said it would allow the
NSFs to prepare and train the players for the various sporting events.
The bench, however, said it
would not pass any order without first hearing the other side.
The high court also said that when
the process for grant of recognition commenced in January this year, the
ministry did not come before it and now it cannot ask for an urgent interim
order.
It gave Mehra three weeks to
file his reply and listed the matter for further hearing on August 7.
The high court on June 24
stayed the June 2 decision of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS)
to provisionally renew the annual recognition of the NSFs and had directed it
to “maintain status quo ante”.
The bench had said that the
ministry proceeded to take the decision, even if it is provisional in nature,
without first approaching the court and seeking its consent as per its February
7 order in the main petition.
On February 7, the court had
directed the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) and MYAS to inform the court in
advance while seeking to take any decision in relation to the NSFs.
However, on June 24 the high
court was informed through an application of the ministry that it has proceeded
to provisionally renew the annual recognition in respect of the NSFs for the
year 2020, till September 30.
The high court was hearing a
Public Interest Litigation filed by Mehra in 2010 which had initially sought a
probe into the functioning of various sports bodies, including Hockey India and
Indian Olympic Association.
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