Polls held on basis of fictitious ‘Odisha HC order’: Why Delhi High Court upheld disaffiliation of UP kho kho body

‘Mired in controversy’

• The affairs of the petitioner association have been plagued by controversy since 2019 and before that. The litigation concerning the election and dissolution of the association has not served to improve the situation.
• By this court’s order in 2021, the elections were held to elect the executive committee (EC) of the UPKKA and a former judge of the Allahabad High Court was appointed as the returning officer.
• However, even the conduct of the said elections is mired in controversy.
• In the October 2021 order passed by the returning officer, reliance was sought to be placed on an order ostensibly delivered by “the Odisha High Court”, concluding that only “model election guidelines” were relevant for the election and that the national sports code was not at all applicable to state associations, such as the UPKKA.
• The returning officer was misled, and it was wrongly projected before him that the observations were part of a judicial order passed by the Orissa High Court.
• This led to the erroneous conclusion that a state association (such as UPKKA), was not concerned with or required to adhere to the provisions of the national sports code.
• The provisions of the national sports code with regard to tenure and age are valid and binding upon the state federations, such as the petitioner. The provisions relating to transparency and financial accountability are equally applicable.
• There is no fault with the federation in seeking the required documents to verify whether a particular state association is adhering to the provisions of the national sports code.
• The members of the association, who are government employees, have admittedly held elected posts in sports bodies for more than one term and five years, and were not qualified to contest for the last elections of UPKKA, nor did they obtain the No-Objection Certificate (NOC) before contesting for various posts in said association.
• The election of a chairman in the executive committee of the said association violates the national sports code, since the said code does not provide for any elective post of “chairman” in a sports federation.
• The election of chairman, president, secretary, treasurer, vice-president and members of the executive committee of the said association is invalid on account of violation of the national sports code.
• The returning officer was restricted from going into the issue of the eligibility of the contesting candidates on the touchstone of the national sports code based on the fictitious/non-existent order of the Orissa High Court.

‘Jeopardising interests of sportspersons’

• Appearing for the association, advocate Vrinda Bhandari submitted that the association concerned is a founding member of the KKFI and was operating as a recognised state association for kho kho in Uttar Pradesh from its inception until it was illegally disaffiliated by the KKFI in January 2020.
  Bhandari further pointed out that the association was never issued a disaffiliation letter and could not have been possibly disaffiliated without seeking the consent of the general council at an annual general meeting.
• He also said that the KKFI acted illegally, in concert with the ex-president of the association, for the purpose of dislodging their duly elected executive committee.
• Bhandari emphasised that KKFI had bad intention which is reflected in the fact that they even rejected the elections conducted under the aegis of the returning officer appointed by the court.
• It was also submitted that KKFI not only orchestrated the illegal disaffiliation of the association, but has registered a parallel body called Uttar Pradesh Amateur Kho Kho Association (UPAKKA), to dislodge their position as the recognised state association.
• The KKFI has illegally refused to recognise and grant reaffiliation to the association on extraneous grounds that have been jeopardising the interests and rights of sportspersons, coaches, and other stakeholders in the state who are currently unrepresented by any state association.
• The KKFI’s act is untenable to resist granting recognition to the association and depriving the state of any stake in the sport of kho kho.

‘Fabricated order cited’

• On the contrary, representing the federation, advocate Sachin Chopra argued that the KKFI had repeatedly requested the UPKKA between 2017 and 2019 to provide information regarding various aspects of its functioning, including its registration, certificate, details of the last elections held, the composition of its electoral college, audited accounts and the names and numbers of its affiliated district units.
• It was submitted that these requests were also raised during the general council meeting of the KKFI, which was attended by the then secretary of the UPKKA and other authorised officials of the association.
• In this meeting, the then-president of the UPKKA inexplicably resigned from his position as secretary for UPKKA.
• The KKFI had no objection to the holding of elections of the association during the course of proceedings in the matter in court in 2021, but the same did not lead to the waiver of the right of the federation to insist on adherence to the provisions of the sports code and the supply of necessary documents to verify the same.
• The elections of the UPKKA were not in adherence with the sports codes, as six of the members of the electoral body of the association had admittedly held elected posts in sports bodies for more than one term and five years, and hence were not qualified to contest for the last elections of UPKKA.
• These government employees working as members of the executive committee of the association had not obtained a valid NOC before contesting for various posts in UPKKA.
• It is further submitted that during the election process, the UPKKA members had misled the returning officer by providing an unauthorised list of affiliated associations and a fabricated order, allegedly passed by the Orissa High Court.
• It is emphasised that the order passed by the returning officer in 2021 reveals that on the strength of the said fabricated order, they took a view that the provisions of the national sports code would not apply to the UPKKA polls and only the Model Elections Guidelines may apply.

‘Polls under supervision of returning officer’

• With the issuance of a letter in December 2019, the association was dissolved on account of the alleged failure on the part of its then general secretary to maintain and furnish the documents required by the federation.
• A writ petition was filed against this action in which the court in 2021 agreed to the request to conduct a fresh election to elect the executive committee of the association.
• A returning officer was appointed to look into the conduct of the elections of the said association.
• In December 2022, the federation constituted an affiliation and election review committee (AERC) to examine the association’s application for recognition. The AERC was directed to issue a show-cause notice and grant an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and to submit its report to the federation.
• The association here reiterated that all available documents had been supplied and requested recognition of its executive committee, elected under the supervision of the returning officer.
• The KKFI’s general council looked into the matter and lastly rejected the association’s request of reaffirmation, noting that the elections were held in violation of the national sports code and also considering the irregularities in the management and administration of the association.
• The association then decided to challenge this decision and filed the present plea.