HI elections adjourned sine die

MS Unnikrishnan

In a dramatic development, the Hockey India (HI) elections were adjourned sine die by Returning Officer Justice RC Chopra (retd) after the Bombay High Court and the Delhi High Court stayed the election process.

The elections were scheduled to be held today, but now uncertainty looms large over the polls even as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) had given an ultimatum to Hockey India to hold the elections before July 31 or else face sanction.

Forced to put off its polls for the fourth time, HI has decided to move the Supreme Court against the stay order, even as the FIH threatened to impose sanctions on India if elections were not held at the earliest. “We are moving the Supreme Court within two days against the stay order. There are court cases in almost every state, so we will ask the Honourable Supreme Court to take all cases and solve them at the earliest in the best interest of our national game,” HI lawyer Hitesh Jain said.

The Delhi High Court had directed the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to withdraw the government’s observer for the Hockey India elections as it ruled that the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) was the sole representative body of the national game in the country as HI was a private body.

Accordingly, the government yesterday withdrew its observer SK Mendiratta from the HI elections.

The Delhi High Court had on May 21 set aside government’s decision to de-recognise the IHF and its disaffiliation by the Indian Olympic Association.

But today, the Sports Ministry filed an application in the high court through joint secretary Injeti Srinivas asserting that the government had given recognition to both IHF and HI.

Justice Muralidhar of the Delhi High Court, taking a serious view of the Ministry’s change of stance, said it was a breach of the court’s order despite the assurance given by the Ministry’s advocate yesterday, and directed the government to issue a fresh letter. But the government refused, insisting that it had recognised both IHF and HI, following which the court stayed the elections.

Justice Muralidhar said there could be one recognised body for hockey and “this court is left with no option, but to stay the election process till further orders”.

Justice Chopra then adjourned the HI elections sine die, till the court vacates the stay. Former Indian captain and Olympian Pargat Singh, who was contesting for the post of president, said: “It’s very unfortunate for the country and hockey will be the loser; no individual is going to lose anything”.

FIH vice-president and observer for the elections Antonio Van Ondrasa was furious at the turn of events, saying it was very shameful and he did not come to the country to watch such a drama. He said the IHF was history for the FIH, as it had derecognised the Indian body 10 years ago, in 2000. He did not give a clear reply to a question whether the FIH would give another deadline to HI to complete the election process, as the July 31 deadline would not be met now.

The FIH had threatened to deny India participation in the upcoming Women’s World Cup in August for which India have qualified, and all other international tournaments.

When asked if India would be allowed to play in the World Cup, he said, “I cannot answer that question.”

“Now we face the spectre of being denied permission to play in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi (October) and the Asian Games in China (November),” said a senior HI official.

“The FIH’s objective is to help Indian hockey. We want India to come up in the game. You can hold the elections in the next five-six days, or seven-eight days…it’s not a question of a few days. Who knows whether this will go on forever…” wondered the FIH vice-president.

He said the latest development was not good for the growth of Indian sports.

“India has a lot of catching up to do in sports. We should not be going from court to court,” he noted.

He asked the media and the well-wishers of Indian hockey “to give a wake-up call to the court”. “Let us put some pressure, otherwise, we are not going to achieve anything,” he added.