Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: February 13, 2022 at 14:04 IST
The former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Justice Gita Mittal has been appointed as Chairperson of Committee of Administrators to conduct the affairs of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).
On February 11, a three-member committee of administrators was appointed by Justice Rekha Palli, suspending the operation of its Executive Committee after observing that Prima Facie the federation’s conduct was blameworthy. The Committee also includes Senior Advocate Chetan Mittal and renowned athlete SD Mudgil.
A Plea was filed by Table Tennis player Manika Batra challenging the Rules issued by TTFI, which stated that attending the National Coaching Camp was mandatory for the selection in international events.
Few directions were issued for facilitating smooth-functioning of the Committee. The Executive body shall acquiesce its administrative duties to the Committee of Administrators. The Executive members shall render assistance to the Committee of Administrators.
A monthly honorarium of Rs 3 lakhs shall be paid to the Chairperson and Rs 1 lakh each to the other two members. The existing office bearers shall not be entitled to discharge any function of federation but shall render assistance to the Committee when required.
The Committee has the power to issue directions as necessary for the functioning of federation, can use the office of the federation, and avail services of staff employed. All communications on behalf of the federation shall take place through the Committee of Administrators.
Also, the banks where the federation has bank accounts, were directed to treat the Committee members as authorized signatories of the federation. The Committee shall submit a periodic report every two months.
Batra was aggrieved by the fact that she was not sent to Doha for 25th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships, 2021. She alleged that Soumyadeep Roy, the National Coach pressurized her to throw away a match to help a trainee of his private academy to qualify for the Olympics 2020. She sought an enquiry into Federation’s management and Roy’s conduct.
The Court stated that no explanation was given by the Federation and Roy as why he was appointed as the National Coach when he had his own private academy.
Earlier, the Central Government was directed by the Court to conduct an enquiry into Batra’s allegations and the Show Cause Notices issued to her by the Federation.
On perusing the Central Committee’s report, the Court concluded that there was no misconduct on Batra’s part.