CHENNAI: The Equestrian Federation of India could be one of the first federations to cite the sports ministry's relaxation clause in court.
While filing a counter-affidavit in Delhi High Court on Wednesday, the EFI said the sports ministry has the right to relax norms due to special circumstances. The EFI pointed out that after giving them recognition the ministry came out with another notification in February that gave the sports minister discretionary power to relax norms of the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 to grant recognition.
According to Rajasthan Equestrian Association, the court has not accepted the counter-affidavit as of now and adjourned the matter till April 14. The counter-affidavit was filed by the EFI in response to a report submitted by its observer Dr SY Quraishi, former chief election commissioner of India, on February 9.
Observing that the matter needs to be heard in detail, the court has also proposed a physical hearing.
In his report submitted on February 9, Quraishi made critical observations on the functioning of the federation.
Through the report, Quraishi, who was appointed EFI's observer by the high court in 2019, has also suggested systematic reformation to make the federation compliant with the sports code. "I will not comment on the issue as the matter is subjudice," Jaiveer Singh, EFI's secretary-general, told this daily.
Quraishi was assigned the role by the court after Rajasthan Equestrian Association, one of the member unit of the federation, filed a writ petition in the court accusing the parent body of non-compliance with the sports code. Speaking on the developments, Raghuvendra Singh Dundlod, who is president of the Rajasthan association, the petitioner in the case, said their only priority is the compliance of the sports code by the federation.
"I am hopeful that in the next hearing the court will look into all aspects which have been raised by us in connection with the sports code," said Dundlod. Meanwhile, it was learnt that the EFI will go ahead with its AGM scheduled on March 21.