Questioning the legality of the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) move to form a three-member panel to decide whether the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) or its rival Hockey India (HI) is the legal body to run the game, IHF secretary Ashok Mathur has termed the action a contempt of the High Court order. IHF has also slammed HI’s plan to float a new league (HIL) in competition with its own World Series Hockey as “unauthorised and illegal,” and threatened to take legal action to stop the HIL, scheduled for January-February, 2013. According to IHF sources, IHF intends to move the Supreme Court shortly.
“The latest farce enacted by the IOA at the instance of FIH was to set up a 3-member committee to decide who should run the affairs of hockey in India. Curiously, all three members of the committee were also members of the IOA executive committee which had suspended and then disaffiliated the IHF in 2008. The committee concluded that their own illegal creation, ie HI, only had the credentials to govern and conduct the affairs of hockey in India. This was despite the repeated pleas of IHF to reconstitute the special committee with independent members,” says the IHF statement.
“IOA should have known better than to ignore the order passed by the Delhi High Court on May 21, 2010 quashing the illegal suspension and disaffiliation of IHF by IOA and Govt of India on a writ filed by IHF formation of a committee by IOA to decide on an issue which had already been decided by the Delhi High Court by declaring IHF as the sole governing body for hockey in India, not only reflect its disrespect but contempt of the court. IHF is open to taking legal recourse to stop these activities of HI.”