CHENNAI: Coming down heavily on the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI), the High Court of Delhi on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over the functioning of the NSF. The court also ordered the federation to expand the pool of probables selected to attend coaching camps and participate in the FEI competitions in their bid to qualify for the upcoming Asian Games scheduled in China.
The order came as a big relief for those wishing to be a part of the camp and qualifying tournaments to acquire minimum eligibility requirement (MER) especially the petitioners — Chirag Khandal, 19 (Eventing), Shashank Singh Kataria, 18 (Eventing) and Yash Nensee, 22 (Show Jumping).
During the hearing, Justice Gaurang Kanth made scathing opinions on the EFI. "After examining the conduct of the EFI throughout the present proceedings, this Court is of the prima facie opinion that EFI succeeded in their vicious approach to eliminate the best candidates by acting in a completely capricious and arbitrary manner while discharging its responsibilities," the court opined.
Upon a conjoint reading of the petitions, the court mainly focussed on three issues before pronouncing the judgement. The three issues were - a) Whether the revised selection criteria introduced were in accordance with the statute of the federation or other relevant regulations, b) Whether the EFI acted fairly and in a transparent manner while carrying out selection process for selecting deserving candidates for the 19th Asian Games, c) Whether the Order dated 12.01.2023 passed by this Hon‟ble Court demands any modification in terms of the recent development, as stated by the EFI.
Notably, the court on 12.01.2023 allowed petitioner Chirag to participate in the trials during the months of March and April 2023. "If he is able to meet the required MER in the trials, then he may be allowed to participate in coaching camps from the month of May onwards," it had said then.
The EFI then filed a petition seeking a review/recall of the order based on certain subsequent events. It said that the coaching camps for the national selections are now to start latest by the second week of March, 2023 and cannot be postponed to May thus ruling out the inclusion of Chirag in the camp. Expressing its views on selection criteria, the court cited the statute of the EFI and the National Sports Development Code of India (NSDCI), 2011. "In view of the aforesaid discussion, this Court is of the opinion that the Impugned Selection Criteria which was introduced without presence of requisite quorum in Selection Committee and observance of the process of law stands void ab initio in the eyes of law," the court observed.
It also questioned the authenticity of trials that were held in absence of a duly appointed national coach. The appointment of a national coach is a mandate under Article 15 of the Federation Statute which pertains to the formation of a Selection Committee. It is also mandatory as per NSDCI, 2011. An issue that made the court particularly curious was an allegation of the presence of vested interest in the selection trials. "It has been averred that there exists a conflict of interest in the case of the Vice President as his son is engaged in leasing equines that are to be utilized in the upcoming Asian Games. In such a circumstance, there is a high chance of selection being biased and tweaked for bagging benefits out of it.
"The Vice President (Finance) of EFI, despite having a major vested interest in the selection process failed to disclose this fact before the Federation or before this Hon‟ble Court for that matter. He does not only continue to be a prominent part of the body, but has been proactively involved in formulating the selection criteria and moulding course of trials and selection of modus operandi."