Referring to it as a ‘sorry state of affairs’, the Delhi High Court on Friday, suspended the Table Tennis Federation of India for six months. In addition to this, it decided to appoint an administrator for discharging the Executive body’s functions after perusing the report of a three-member committee formed by Justice Vikramjit Sen, the former judge of the Supreme Court.
Justice Rekha Palli showed disappointment over the conduct of the sport’s body according to the opinion passed by the committee that the Table Tennis Federation was doing the work of safeguarding the interests of its officials as opposed to promoting the players.
ASG had informed the court that due to the allegations made, actions could be taken against the TTFI in terms of the National Sports Code.
The committee was formed last year to look into the allegations made by prime paddler Manika Batra that the national coach Soumyadeep Roy had asked her to tank a match against his trainee Sutirtha Mukherjee during the Tokyo Olympic Qualifiers in Doha in March 2021.
The executive committee of the TTFI will no longer be allowed to take any decision or interfere with the manner in which the Administrator will decide to discharge duties assigned to it under the Code,” said the court.
Since there are a number of upcoming national and international tournaments lined up in the next month, including the senior national championship in Shillong from March 20, the court stated that the members of TTFI are expected to assist the administrator in the next month. In addition to this, the name of the administrator and other persons to be appointed will be announced by the court later in the order copy.
“The manager committee of the TTFI will now not be allowed to make any determination or intrude with the way by which the Administrator will determine to discharge duties assigned to it beneath the Code,” said the court.
The courtroom stated that if it does not carry out an investigation to look into the matter of TTFI and appoint an administrator to conduct its functions, then it would fail to comply with its obligation not only towards the sportspersons of the nation but also towards the general public.
Manika had filed a petition at the Delhi High Court after she was excluded from being in the team by the TTFI for the 2021 Asian Championship on the grounds of not attending the national camp prior to the event. On September 23, the court on Batra’s petition had paused the mandatory obligatory attendance of gamers on the nationwide teaching camp for choice for worldwide occasions.
“I was forced to approach the hon’ble court when I was left with no other choice because I was subjected to undue pressure and ill treatment which put me into huge mental agony,” Manika said in a statement.
The court reprimanded the TTFI for appointing Roy as a national coach as he holds his academy, ultimately leading to conflict of interest or a battle of curiosity as per the Inquiry Committee Report. The CWG gold medalist’s refusal of Roy’s help during the Tokyo Olympics had fanned the flames of controversial events.
Edited By : Shrinkhla Goyal
Published By : K.Bindhiya Prarthana
