Senior counsel Rahul Mehra argued that age and tenure restrictions are being violated, as highlighted in a petition filed by Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja.
Source: Indian Express
The Delhi High Court has declined to issue a stay order on the upcoming All India Tennis Association (AITA) elections scheduled for September 28 but directed that the election results should not be published immediately. The petition, filed by Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja, challenged the legality of the elections, claiming they violate the National Sports Development Code.
Devvarman and Raja’s counsel argued that the elections were being conducted in a “clandestine manner” and pointed out that there was no announcement or mention of the elections on the AITA’s official website.
Speaking to the Indian Express, senior counsel Rahul Mehra, representing the petitioners, emphasized the alleged violations by the AITA in proceeding with the elections.
“Firstly, there are age and tenure restrictions. No individual over the age of 70 can run for office, regardless of the position, including the President, Registrar, Secretary, and any other elected posts, if they are violating the tenure or cooling-off period. Additionally, at least 25% of the members in both the general assembly and the executive committee must be eminent sportspersons of outstanding merit, and they must be elected through the body’s athlete commission,” stated Mehra.
“The executive committee of a national sports body, like the AITA, shouldn’t have 25 members, as it currently does. District and state associations are also supposed to follow these guidelines, but none of them are complying. This means the entire electoral process is flawed, as the rules and court judgment aren’t being followed,” he explained.
The court while ordering the results to be withheld, made it clear that if the election was found to be in violation of the sports code, the office bearers who had been elected would not be allowed to carry out their functions and an independent ad-hoc committee could be created to run the affairs of the sport.
“I am not staying. Elections require a lot of preparation. If the election process is conducted in defiance of the subsisting directions, the office bearers will be restrained from functioning. Then we will consider appointing someone as the ad hoc (body)…That election will be set aside,” the court said. “In the meantime, the election of respondent no 2 will be subject to the outcome of the instant writ petition.. The result of the election shall not be published,” the court ordered, according to PTI.
In the petition filed by Devvarman and Raja on Monday, they alleged that the AITA had violated several rules outlined in the Sports Code. Mehra pointed out that there were fundamental violations being committed.
“There are additional violations to consider,” Mehra said. “The current secretary is already over 70 years old and is ineligible to contest. Moreover, nearly 12 nominations have been approved by the returning officer despite violating the cooling-off period.”
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