Court order forces HI to postpone elections

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The elections to Hockey India, scheduled for February 7, have been postponed indefinitely following a stay issued by the Rajasthan High Court.

HI issued a release on Saturday to state that following advice from the Returning Officer, G.S. Mander, the elections have been postponed till a final decision is given by the Rajasthan High Court.

The court, acting on a petition filed by the Rajasthan Hockey Association (RHA) had, on Friday, stayed the operation of the minutes of the meeting held here on January 11 in which affiliations of 30 State units and Union Territories and four institutional boards were approved. Justice R.S. Chauhan, after hearing the counsel for the petitioner, issued notices to the respondents, including the Union Government, and directed that rules be made returnable within four weeks.

HI referred the court order to Mander who in turn sought legal advice on the matter and asked HI to defer the elections since the entire electoral college had been stayed, according to him.

“Hockey India has kept the FIH (international federation), Ministry of Sports, Government of India, Election Observer of Government of India and IOA observer updated about the developments,” HI stated in the release. All the members of HI held an urgent meeting and unanimously decided to defer the elections, according to the release. Earlier, the electoral college was made available to the Government Election Observer by HI.

Now, there could be serious doubts about HI having an elected body before the World Cup scheduled to be held here from February 28.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court on Friday issued notices to HI and the IOA on an application moved by the Union Government regarding the appointment of Mander as the Returning Officer for the HI elections and a request to nominate a retired High Court judge for the post. The court, however, declined stay. The matter was posted for Monday.