Plea by Vinesh Phogat, Others: Delhi High Court restores WFI ad hoc committee but refuses to appoint retired judge

The Delhi High Court on Friday passed orders for restoration of the ad hoc committee constituted by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to manage affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India..Justice Sachin Datta passed the order after noting that the dissolution of the committee was unwarranted. "Since this Court has concluded that the dissolution of the ad-hoc committee was unwarranted, it restores the mandate of the ad-hoc committee appointed by the IOA vide order dated 27.12.2023. However, it shall be open to IOA to reconstitute the ad-hoc committee so as to ensure that the same is a multi-member body comprising of eminent sportsperson/s and/or experts who are well-versed in dealing with the International Federations, so as to allay any concerns that the UWW might have as regards the steps taken qua the WFI," the Court said. The Court also said that Ministry Youth Affairs and Sports would be at liberty to withdraw its order of December 12, 2023 by which it had asked IOA to constitute the ad-hoc committee."Further, it is clarified that the ad-hoc committee shall continue to act as such, only till such time as the order dated 24.12.2023 issued by the Respondent No.1/MYAS [Ministry Youth Affairs and Sports] is in force. It shall be open to the Respondent No. 1 to withdraw/review the said order, if circumstances so warrant. This order shall not be construed as imposing any limitations or constraints in this regard," the Court said. .The Court passed the order while dealing with a plea filed by wrestlers Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Satyawart Kadian.The wrestlers had asked the Court to appointed a one-man committee under a retired judge of the Supreme Court or the High Court to manage WFI. Justice Datta said that at this stage, he is not inclined to accept the prayer for appointment of a retired judge as the administrator. .The wrestlers were at the forefront of the wrestlers’ protest against former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. After Singh’s tenure, Sanjay Singh became the head of the wrestling federation. He is considered close to Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.The Centre had suspended the WFI on December 24, 2023, just three days after it elected the new office-bearers, for not following the provisions of its own constitution while taking decisions.The government requested the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to constitute an ad hoc committee to manage and control its affairs. However, in February 2024, the United World Wrestling (world wrestling body) lifted the suspension of WFI which led to IOA dissolving its ad hoc committee..Phogat, Punia, Malik and Kadiyan filed an application in the High Court seeking directions to the Central government to not revoke the suspension of the WFI and to appoint a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India to take over its management.“Pass specific directions to enable the One Man Committee to be the only nodal entity to exclusively communicate with UWW and specific directions to the Indian Olympic Association to facilitate the same as per the directions and instructions of the One Man Committee and pass further Orders directing Respondent No.2-WFI to strictly adhere to the instruction of One Man Committee and not to act beyond the instructions of One Man Committee,” the plea demanded..[Read Judgment]