Delhi HC Appoints Ex-SC Judge Vineet Saran as Returning Officer for TIFFI Elections

TTFI Law Insider

Savvy Thakur

Published on: 18 October 2022 at 23:16 IST

The Delhi High Court has appointed the retired Supreme Court Judge, Justice Vineet Saran, as the returning officer for conducting elections of the Executive Committee (EC) of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).

Justice Rekha Palli requested the former judge to prepare the electoral college and conduct the elections as per the federation’s constitution. The retired judge has also asked to ensure that only those state associations which are compliant with the Sports Code are permitted to participate in the elections.

The returning officer, will be paid a sum of Rs. 7,50,000 besides secretarial expenses, which will be borne by the TTFI, Justice Palli said in an order on October 17.

The order has been passed in the petition filed by Table Tennis player Manika Batra. Though the plea was mainly against the TTFIl rules that made attending of National Coaching Camp compulsory for being selected for international events, the court has been monitoring the probe into affairs of the federation.

In February, the court appointed a three member-committee of administrators (CoA) with former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal as Chairperson to manage the affairs of TTFI.

Previously, an independent three-member Inquiry Committee was also appointed to look into the complaint of Batra who had made allegations against the national coach Soumyadeep Roy. The said Committee consisted of two former judges of the Supreme Court and a former athlete.

A report was then submitted by the Inquiry Committee stating that TTFI had failed in discharging the obligations cast upon it as a National Sports Federation (NSF) to work for the welfare of the sportspersons and promotion of the sport.

The court noted the CoA has been diligently discharging its duties, keeping in mind the interest of the sport as well as the sportspersons, while being mindful of valuable resources. Justice Palli said the CoA has made efforts to streamline the manner of conducting the federation’s affairs.

Batra was aggrieved over the fact that she was left out of the contingent being sent for the 25th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships, 2021.

The petition alleged that Soumyadeep Roy, the national coach, had pressured Batra to “throw away” a match with a view to help one of his trainees at his private academy to qualify for the Olympics, 2020. She thus sought enquiry into the Federation’s management and conduct of Roy.

The Court in November last year decided to constitute a 3-member committee to inquire into the allegations of match-fixing levelled by Batra against national coach Soumyadeep Roy.

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