The Delhi High court has pulled up the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) over its selection process for upcoming Asian Games.
Delhi High Court observed that a National Sports Federation should prioritize identifying and fostering the best talent in the country without being muddled by hyper-technicality or personal vendettas against any candidate.
Justice Gaurang Kanth said that sportsperson belong to the stadium and not in courts corridors. He also added that that no one who aims to bring laurels to their motherland should be subjected to mental agony by the federations and its officials.
The court said this while, it was hearing the petitions moved by three equestrians against the process of selecting candidates for the 19th Asian Games to be held from September 23 to October 8.
The court noted that the EFI has failed to produce any documentary evidence to demonstrate that the impugned selection criteria was issued by a duly constituted Selection Committee in accordance with Article 15 of its statute.
It also said that the EFI changed the rule of qualifications while the selection process was ongoing and hence denied equal opportunity to all the aspirants of 19th Asian games.
The court said that despite the presence of such precautionary provisions, element of biasness and conflict of interest always remain as a major challenge in running of National Federation in Indian sports as can be seen in the present matter.
The Vice President (Finance) of EFI, despite having a major vested interest in the selection process failed to disclose this fact before the Federation or before this Honourable Court for that matter.
EFI has been directed by the Court for allowing all the equestrians who participated in the selection process to attend the coaching camps and allow them to participate in Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) competitions in which already selected probables will be participating.
The Court felt bad at the sorry state of affairs amongst the representatives of the EFI who instead of spending an amount of energy and funds on prohibiting young sportsmen from entering the list of “probables”should rather work on improving the administration and chalking out a strategy to bag as many international laurels as possible.
Justice Kanth further said that the case seems to have become a “David and Goliath contest” where an organization is using all its might to eliminate certain individual from the competition.
The Court said that the Nation recognises the years of hard work and dedication put by each Athlete to reach at that stage and how. The role of National Federations is to ease the difficulties faced by the Athletes and extend the necessary help to them to enable them to better their performances.
It was also said by the Court that it is the duty of the National Sports Federations to ensure that the selection process is conducted in a fair and transparent manner and the selection criterion are made known to all stakeholders well in advance.