Bombay High Court upholds Sharad Pawar-led wrestling body’s de-affiliation from WFI

The Wrestling Federation of India, then headed by BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had cited the Maharashtra State Wrestling Association’s failure to conduct certain tournaments while dissolving the MSWA's elected committee.

Bombay High Court MSWA de-affiliation verdict Sharad Pawar

The WFI replaced Sharad Pawar's MSWA with the Maharashtra Rajya Kustigir Sangh in 2023. (File Photo)

3 min readMumbaiJun 17, 2026 09:26 PM IST First published on: Jun 15, 2026 at 01:14 PM IST

The Bombay High Court on Monday upheld the de-affiliation of the Maharashtra State Wrestling Association (MSWA), led by NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, from the Wrestling Federation of India, dismissing the state association’s appeal against the WFI’s decision.

On January 1, 2023, the WFI replaced the MSWA with the Maharashtra Rajya Kustigir Sangh (MRKS), led by former BJP MP Rajendra Tadas.

Before a bench of Justices Bharati H Dangre and Manjusha A Deshpande, the MSWA claimed that the de-affiliation decision was made by the WFI’s oversight committee, not its executive committee, and was therefore illegal and arbitrary. However, the WFI justified its decision.

The WFI de-affiliated the MSWA nearly two months after a single-judge bench of Justice S K Shinde, in November 2022, held the WFI’s June 30, 2022, decision to dissolve the MSWA’s elected executive committee led by Pawar as “illegal”.

The WFI, then headed by BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had cited the state body’s failure to conduct certain tournaments when making the decision. The MSWA moved the court arguing that Pawar had controlled the committee for nearly four decades and that the WFI decision was “arbitrary”.

Justice Shinde then held that the WFI’s decision was not made in “sporting spirit”. He stated that the MSWA’s elected body headed by Pawar “shall hold the office till its tenure comes to an end and shall carry on its day-to-day functions in accordance with its Constitution”.

The MSWA also challenged a July 4 WFI communication to the committee’s general secretary, B S Landge, stating that the MSWA panel had been dissolved and that an ad hoc committee had been appointed instead.

Justice Shinde observed that the 2022 decision “to dissolve MSWA and supersede the elected committee was being taken in violation of principles of natural justice and in gross violation of procedural safeguards and fairness” and was unreasonable and deserved to be quashed and set aside.

The WFI’s General Council, consisting of represetatives from Wrestling Associations of states and Union Territories thereafter de-affiliated the MSWA in April, 2023.

Senior advocate Darius Khambata for MSWA claimed its disaffiliation and affiliation of MRKS were based on unreasoned order and were required to be set aside.

On the other hand, advocates Yash Momaya and Munaf Virjee, instructed by AMR Law, for WFI claimed MSWA’s writ plea was non-maintainable as it related to elections snd membership of WFI.

The bench found “no legal flaw” in April, 2023 decision and upheld it. Observing that MRKS is affiliated by WFI and obtained membership of Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the HC dismissed plea to “disaffiliate” the MRKS.