Delhi High Court clips IOA’s wings, says national Olympic body can’t forcibly take over independent sports societies

Highlighting the significance of the 2025 Act, the court added, “It also aims to ensure that the sports bodies in the country manage their internal and external affairs in an open, fair, and transparent manner in the public interest.” It said the Act intends to provide for accessible, fair, and effective measures for the resolution of grievances and disputes relating to sports.

Background

• The matter arose from a plea filed by the IOA president against a February 2026 single-judge order that quashed an IOA office order dated October 13, 2023.
• The single judge held that the SSI is an independent body registered as a society under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960, and that the IOA did not have any jurisdiction, authority, or power to replace the executive committee of the SSI by appointing an ad hoc committee to manage its affairs.
• That order noted that IOA had appointed a four-member ad hoc committee to manage SSI’s affairs, select athletes for international events, and conduct executive elections.
• The IOA contended that Article 17.5 of its Rules and Regulations granted it the power to form such committees.
• Appearing for the IOA, senior advocate Gopal Jain argued that the single judge’s direction to hold elections was untenable under the National Sports Governance Act, 2025, as SSI had not yet amended its bylaws to comply with the new statutory regime.

National Sports Governance Act

• The National Sports Governance Act, 2025, was enacted by the Parliament with a view to giving effect to the emphasis of the Olympic Charter and the Paralympic Charter, which emphasise impeccable ethical behaviour in sports governance and necessitate that national sports governing bodies align with such global governance standards.
• Before the enactment of the 2025 Act, the affairs of national sports bodies were governed and regulated by the 2011 Code, which contains certain non-statutory rules.
• By enacting the 2025 Act, a statutory regime or framework has been introduced for sports grievances in the country.
• With a view to aligning the affairs of the national sports bodies with the provisions of the 2025 Act, certain provisions have been made in the said Act.
• Section 2(p) defines ‘National Sports Body’ to mean a national sports governing body such as the National Olympic Committee or the National Paralympic Committee, the National Sports Federation or the Regional Sports Federation, established under Section 3.
• For the transition from the old non-statutory regime governed by the 2011 Code to the statutory regime regulated by the 2025 Act, Rule 18 of the 2025 Rules, framed under the said Act, provides that every national sports body shall amend its by-laws in conformity with the provisions of the Act within six months.

Court’s findings

• The SSI is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act whose affairs are governed by the provisions contained in the memorandum of association and the rules and regulations framed by the Indian Olympic Association.
• The association has framed the IOA’s rules and regulations for the purposes of governing its own affairs, and it is only in this context that the provisions contained in Article 17.5 have to be interpreted and understood.
• Article 17.5 states that all required commissions/committees will be formed by the president to be ratified by the executive council or by the annual /special general meeting.
• The commissions and committees referred to in Article 17.5 refer to the commissions and committees of the IOA, and by no stretch of imagination, the phrases ‘commissions’ and ‘committees’ occurring in the said Article can be interpreted to bring in its fold the committees in relation to any other society or body.
• It is also to be noticed that before the enactment of the 2025 Act, the affairs relating to National Sports Federations were governed by the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, under which any body or society to be termed as a National Sports Federation was required to be recognised by the ministry.