Sports Ministry suspends newly-elected Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) – Latest News | – Times of India



Sports Ministry suspends newly-elected Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) – Latest News | – Times of India

New Delhi: The uncertainty prevailing over Indian wrestling following the suspension of the newly-elected federation by the sports ministry has left everyone asking one question – what’s next?
Going forward, the decision to call for fresh elections seems a logical solution. And if that call is made, then the elections is likely to be held on lines similar to those in football, tennis and kabaddi bodies which was in accordance with the landmark judgment passed by the Delhi High Court on August 16, 2022, directing compliance with the government’s Sports Code and making it applicable to every constituent of national sports federations (NSFs) – even at district and state levels.
The division bench of the court had ruled that “the Executive Committee (EC) must have a minimum 25 percent representation with voting rights of eminent players with outstanding merit”, “age and tenure restrictions shall apply to all officials and not only to the president, secretary and treasurer”, “maximum tenure by any official can be of 3 terms (i.e. 12 years) with a cooling-off period”, “no person with criminal antecedents will be eligible to be a part of sports administration” and “the principles of good governance and transparency apply to all constituents of NSFs at the state and district level”.
In the WFI’s recent elections, several of these court rulings weren’t followed. Following the court’s order calling for all future NSF elections to be held in accordance with its judgment, the sports ministry has stopped sending its observers to oversee the federations’ electoral process as it knew that it was difficult to stop the NSFs from flouting the norms set by the HC and that the elections could be challenged in the court. Incidentally, the ministry had appealed in the Supreme Court against the HC order and the case is ongoing.
In a judgment passed by a single judge bench of the Delhi High Court in the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India’s (AKFI) case, the court had directed that district and state bodies must also comply with the age and tenure guidelines of the Code.
Almost all the current wrestling federation office-bearers and executive members have either done their maximum three four-year terms each in their respective district or state association or have attained the age of 70. In that scenario, a fresh electoral college will have be formed.
On Sunday, the ministry had suspended the WFI for ‘blatant violation of procedural norms’ and put it under the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) ad-hoc body.





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