[Commonwealth Games] Courts cannot don role of selector for sporting events: Delhi High Court rejects plea by excluded Table Tennis players

The Delhi High Court last week observed that selecting sports persons to represent the country in international competitions is not as simple as comparing scores based on individual performances..Litigation challenging such selections processes may disrupt and impact preparation and performance of the players, the Court said.Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, therefore, dismissed petitions filed by two table tennis players – Swastika Ghosh and Manush Shah – who had challenged the exclusion of their names from the list of players selected to represent India in the upcoming Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.“To represent a nation and to participate, perform and excel in the arena of international sports, a player must not only possess physical but great mental and emotional strength and agility. It is thus pivotal that there should be no uncertainty in the minds of the players. Such litigations may disrupt and impact the preparation and performance of the players,” the order said. The judge said the names by the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) were finalised by a Committee of Administrators appointed by the High Court. This committee has examined all the issues and arrived at the decision after taking into account all aspects, the Court said. “In the present case also the Committee of Administrator has weighed different factors and therefore, this court finds itself unable to interfere in exercise of its power of judicial review. This court also finds complete absence of any arbitrariness or malafide in the decision arrived at by the Committee of Administrators,” read the Court’s order..Justice Sharma agreed with an earlier decision of the Court and held that it cannot appropriate itself in the position of a ‘Super Umpire’ or 'Super Referee’ or ‘Super Selector’.He added that the courts do not have the expertise to get into the selection and finalisation of players for participation at the international level competitions and any finding can be interfered with only if there is perversity or arbitrariness in the findings.“The Court in the present jurisdiction cannot substitute its own view with the view arrived into by the Committee of Administrators and the Selection Committee. The courts do not have any expertise to get into the selection and finalisation of players for participation at the international level. This court is conscious of the fact that any such findings can be interfered with only if there is any perversity or arbitrariness in the findings arrived into by the concerned federation,” the single-judge ruled. .Senior Advocate Arijit Prasad and advocate Keshav Ahuja appeared for Ghosh. Shah was represented through advocates Deepak Biswas, Shilpa Gamvani and Atmaja Tripathi.Advocates Moazzam Khan, Aman Gupta, Brijesh Ujjainwal appeared for TTFI.Advocates Harshit Jain, Poonam Das, Yashima Sharma and Prakhar Sharma appeared for the Sports Authority of India.CGSC Vineet Dhanda and advocate Sarvan Kumar appeared for the Centre.Advocates Deepak Biswas, Shilpa Gamvani, Atmaja Tripathi, Ritika Jhurani, Dinesh Sharma and Vikas Lakra appeared for the private respondents..[Read Order]