Indians For Guns

NEW DELHI: A district court said on Friday that the election of National Rifle Association of India's (NRAI) president Digvijay Singh and honourary secretary general Baljit Sethi was invalid on the grounds that they had flouted norms by contesting for the posts after completing two consecutive terms. The court also said that this order should serve as a message for all sports federations.

The court restrained NRAI from "accepting the nomination of any member to the governing body or as an office bearer, if the incumbent has held the office for more than two consecutive terms".

Additional district judge Ina Malhotra also restrained Digvijay Singh, and Sethi from "contesting the elections" declaring them ineligible after it found that they had violated the norms of the body's constitution, which only allowed a person to hold office for a maximum two consecutive terms. While Sethi has remained honourary secretary general since June 1985, Singh had been holding the post of the president since 1999.

The order will send a strong message across the sporting fraternity, more so to those officials who have been sitting in offices for more than a decade, lording over their disciplines like feudal czars. The premise of the federations has been simple: We are autonomous bodies, functioning according to the Olympic charter, under our constitutions. Hence, we will not follow government guidelines, which restrict an office-bearer to contest after completing two terms.

Now, officials like Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi and its secretary Randhir Singh, Archery Association of India (AAI) president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Badminton Association president VK Verma among others will surely feel the heat. All these officials have turned a deaf ear to calls for a change at the helm of affairs.

The court's orders came on a petition filed by Raju Soni, a life long member of the NRAI, seeking restraint against Singh and Sethi from contesting the board elections of the authority. The petition, which was filed in January 2009, came at a time when NRAI was gearing up for its elections and both Singh and Sethi were nominated for the post of president and general secretary respectively after holding office for two consecutive terms.

Soni challenged their candidature alleging that their move was in the violation of the NRAI's constitution. He also alleged that the nominations were not disclosed to anyone.

NRAI refuted the allegations saying that the constitution was already amended making a third term possible. It also claimed that a circular explaining the amendments was also distributed among the members. After going through the evidence on record, ADJ Malhotra trashed NRAI's contention and said, "Not only has the exact proposed amendment not been circulated, the agenda for amendment is totally vague. It does not give an idea as to what the directions of the Indian Olympic Association are to enable the members debate the same."

Sending out a stern message to all the national sports organisations, ADJ said, "The national organisations are required to adhere to the guidelines which stipulate that an office bearer of a national sports association may hold office for one term of four years and be eligible for re-election for like term but not beyond."

The court said that if such a policy is not enforced, it will result not only in "diversion of funds, but also affects selection of players and development of the game". Citing a Delhi High court order, the judge said, "Having being elected to office, none likes to relinquish charge or demit a position. It is because of this that lesser known teams have grown in stature while India languishes at the bottom... these observations aptly apply to this case."

Allowing the plea of Soni, the judge said that the defendants, being a recognised federation in the sport of shooting and having a "monopolistic status", should show a certain level of adherence to the government guidelines. "These (guidelines) have been laid down in the interest of Olympic sports, but have been flouted in the present case," it added.

Stating that it was common knowledge that shooters have often "alleged that they found little support from NRAI", she said that national sport federations like NRAI "cannot remain just representative of the hope and aspirations of the sportspersons of the entire nation".

It concluded: "A limited office tenure certainly would have the impact of diminishing, if not eliminating, an allegation or criticism of nepotism, favouritism and bias of any kind."

Meanwhile, when contacted, NRAI's secretary Rajeev Bhatia merely said: "We have not seen the content of the judgment, so would not like to comment. However, we have already applied for a copy of the judgment."