CHENNAI: Upholding the order issued by District Registrar of Societies, Bengaluru on December 5, the Karnataka High Court on Friday has asked Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) to cancel its election proceedings and organise fresh polls.
The BSFI's annual general meeting (AGM) was scheduled on Saturday in Bengaluru wherein elections were supposed to be organised to elect new office-bearers.
As per a list of nominated candidates released by the returning officer on December 7 there was one nomination for each post and all of the contestants were deemed to be elected unopposed in the AGM.
"Yes, the high court has upheld the order issued by the registrar," Sunil Bajaj, BSFI's acting secretary who was supposed to be elected unopposed in the same capacity, told this daily. BSFI has moved the court on Wednesday against the registrar's order.
"We will go ahead with the AGM as representatives from several state units including me have already reached Bengaluru," added Bajaj. However, it needs to be seen when and how the BSFI will extend tenure of its existing office-bearers to conduct the meeting.
Pune-based businessman Rajan Khinvasara was supposed to assume the office of the president replacing incumbent MC Uthappa. Besides him, all three existing vice-presidents (Vijay Goel from Delhi, Soumini Srinivas of Tamil Nadu, West Bengal's Pradip Kumar Saraogi), too, were expected to continue in their posts.
Sunil Morajkar from Goa was supposed to be the new entrant as vice-president.
It was Arvind Savur, ace cueist Pankaj Advani's coach and president of Karnataka State Billiards Association, who has requested the registrar to cancel the elections raising several objections through his application.
Savur, in his application, said the BSFI published the election time-table without complying with the rules issued by the sports ministry and against the law without preparing voter list of the eligible members. He also cited night curfew in several states due to Covid-19 because of which representatives from various member units are unable to attend the AGM.
The complaint also said that associations from Karnataka, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab had requested the federation to postpone the elections. This daily spoke to office-bearers from UP, Punjab and J&K and they accepted that they mailed to the BSFI requesting it to postpone the polls. However, they also claimed that they did not file a complaint with the registrar.
Given the situation, it looks unlikely that the body will now be able to hold elections before December 31. BSFI was among 14 state units, who were directed by the sports ministry to conduct their elections by December 31. A 21-day notice is mandatory before calling an AGM.
"The high court order clearly directs us to conduct fresh elections, which looks unlikely at least this year," signed off Bajaj.