SC asks Kabaddi federation administrator to pass on charge to elected body, ET LegalWorld
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India (AKFI) administrator former judge S P Garg to hand over charge to its elected governing body to allow player participation in a sporting event starting February 20 in Iran. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said the entrustment of charge should happen by February 11 and clarified it hadn’t recognised the elected body of the federation.
“It is clarified that the entrustment of charge to the elected body does not mean that this court has recognised the elected body of the National Kabaddi Federation of India or that the issues raised in the February 4, 2025 order won’t require to be taken to the logical conclusion,” it said.
The bench ordered, “Owing to the urgency regarding participation of Indian players in the senior Asian Kabaddi championship-2025 scheduled to be held in Iran from February 20 to 25, we request Justice (retd) S P Garg, who has been appointed as administrator of National Kabaddi Federation of India, to hand over the charge of federation to the governing body said to have been elected on December 24, 2023.”
It observed Garg did a “commendable job” in restoring the transparency in the functioning of the federation aside from bringing several reforms in the association.
“The needful be done on or before February 11, 2025,” it said.
The counsel of the duly-elected governing body should remain present in court on the next date of hearing on March 3 and a status report over the scheduled championship should also be submitted, the bench said.
The top court directed once the charge was handed over to the elected body, the International Kabaddi Federation should abide by the undertaking given by its February 6 letter.
“The governing body of the federation will take all necessary steps to select the teams for participation in the championship. The government of India and ministry of sports will ensure that the Indian teams are allowed to participate in the scheduled championship,” it said.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said it interacted with the International Kabaddi federation and received a letter on the premise that the elected body would be in place.
“There are some issues with regard to this International Kabaddi Federation also. So, without prejudice to those issues, which we would like to examine. But for the time being this ad hoc arrangement can be resorted to with the idea that the participating players are not deprived of the opportunity,” said the bench.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for some former players, said pursuant to the February 4 order, he submitted a chart to show the ineligibility of the “so-called” office bearers.
The bench said, “Mr Gopal, our order is there and our order will remain there. For the time being we have to take this decision that players are at least in the position to participate in the tournament. We are making this ad hoc arrangement so that players can participate. We are not sending the matter back to the Delhi High Court and we would like to examine this issue in terms of the 4-5 issues which we have raised in previous order. We will go into the matter systematically.”
The top court was hearing the plea of two national Kabaddi players Priyanka and Pooja seeking direction to AKFI — unaffiliated by the International Kabaddi Federation — for sending them to Asian Kabaddi Championship.
On February 4, the top court took cognisance of the offensive language used by the purported and so-called president of the Asian Federation and said strong measures were required to infuse purity, fairness, autonomy and independence in the election process.
It directed the Mehta to explore diplomatic channels for the resolution of the conflict over the recognition of the sports associations, most urgently the Kabaddi Federation of India.
“The director, CBI would suggest an investigation mechanism for effective domestic and international probe, with the assistance of international investigating agencies such as the INTERPOL, into the affairs of the sports federation,” it said.
The top court also sought to know the measures to ensure Kabaddi players and other sports persons were allowed to participate in international competitions, including the Asian Kabaddi Championship in Iran.
The international federation de-affiliated AKFI in July, last year, barring Kabaddi teams from participating in several global events.
The women players, who moved the top court, sought a direction to the Centre to take steps for restoring the affiliation of AKFI.
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