CHENNAI: Fourteen months after holding elections, the Indian Golf Union (IGU) can finally declare the results. The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday set aside a lower court’s order to put on hold declaration of the results following an appeal by West Bengal Golf Society (WBGS), which claimed it had been unfairly left out of the electoral college. Due to the delay in receiving the list of elected office-bearers, the sports ministry didn’t renew the recognition of the IGU, which governs amateur golf in India and assists in sending teams to the Olympic and Asian Games. With the high court setting aside the lower court’s order, the IGU can now submit the list to the ministry and have its recognition renewed.
It can be noted that the elections were conducted on December 15, 2018, under a returning officer and on that day itself the IGU received the court order which restrained it from announcing the results. Names of elected office-bearers were kept in a sealed envelop deposited with the IGU. Pending the disposal of the case, it couldn’t be opened. As a first step towards that, the IGU will now call an annual general meeting. “In accordance with the honourable court’s order, the AGM will be reconvened to finish the election process,” said acting IGU treasurer Ishwar Achanta.
It all started after the IGU decided to accept Bengal Golf Association (BGA) as the authorised body from West Bengal. The WBGS contested it should be the unit to represent the state instead. The high court has not ruled out their case and said that this matter should be sorted out through arbitration. However, declaring the election results comes as a relief for IGU. But if elected officials have crossed 70 in the last 14 months, they will have to step down since that is the age limit according to the sports code.