Delhi High Court upholds suspension of Indian Golf Union member over misconduct at Olympics

The Delhi High Court recently upheld the suspension of Sundeep Verma, from the Indian Golf Union (IGU), the national golf federation in India, over allegations of serious misconduct at the Paris Olympics, 2024 [Sundeep Verma vs. Union of India and Ors.]..Verma, a senior governing council member of the IGU, was suspended on allegations that he unlawfully got into the Olympic Village and attended the opening ceremony with the Indian contingent for the Paris Olympics after taking another athlete's pass and procuring a uniform from a golf player’s father.A Division Bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Ravinder Dudeja refused to interfere in the suspension, holding that the allegations of misconduct that led to Sundeep Verma’s suspension were very serious and could have disqualified the Indian contingent from the Paris Olympics.“We are of the considered opinion that bearing in mind the larger ramifications which arose and the alleged action of the petitioner having the potential to jeopardise the participation of the nation itself, no interference was warranted,” the Court said..Verma had been suspended from the IGU on August 30, pending an inquiry into the allegations against him. He proceeded to challenge the suspension before the High Court.Verma refuted the charges of misconduct against him as baseless and also submitted that IGU’s memorandum of association (MoA) does not contain any provision for suspending him..A single judge of the High Court had first dismissed Verma's challenge by a September 6 order, after which he filed an appeal before the Division Bench. By an order passed on September 20, the Division Bench upheld the single-judge order."Article 36(f) (of the MoA) enables the Council to take disciplinary action against coaches, managers and other personnel representing India or the IGU in sports events. The disciplinary action thus appears to have been initiated and founded on the aforesaid Article bearing in mind the fact that the appellant/ petitioner had held himself out to be a 'caddy' of one of the golfers forming part of the contingent," the Court added. .Sundeep Verma was represented by Advocates Nitish Rana, Pallavi Garg, Nikhil Kohli and Vigya PandeyCentral Government Standing Counsel Anil Soni, with advocate Devrat Yadav represented the Central government while advocates Apoorv Shukla, Puneet Chahar and Prabhleen A Shukla represented another respondent..[Read order]