NSFs’ derecognition: Ministry’s affidavit calls for ‘dismissing’ Mehra’s writ petition as certain issues raised are ‘not maintainable’ | More sports News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Ahead of Friday’s crucial hearing into the National Sports Federations‘ (NSFs) derecognition case, the government on Thursday submitted an affidavit before the two-judge special bench of the Delhi High Court requesting “dismissing” of the present writ petition filed in 2010 by petitioner Rahul Mehra, which sought various reliefs pertaining to the administration of sports in the country.
The sports ministry‘s 14-page affidavit, placed before the bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Najmi Waziri, reiterated on its earlier stand that the courts have limited role to play when judicially reviewing the policy decisions taken by the ‘Executive’ and that the administration of sports in the country falls exclusively in the domain of the government under the constitutional scheme.
The ministry, which is a party to the case as ‘Respondent No. 1’, submitted before the bench that Mehra’s writ petition in the present form with present reliefs “lacks merit” and, in the garb of the pleadings and prayers, the petitioner or anybody else have been seeking reliefs in perpetuity, virtually impeding the administrative role of the government.
The ministry, while praying the court to dismiss the writ petition without going into any other aspect, stated that the petitioner, at every stage of the proceeding, cannot keep raising issues and be heard. “If anyone is aggrieved by any action taken by the government, the same may be questioned in appropriate proceedings and decided in accordance with law within the parameters of judicial review of such administrative action. Needless to submit that the scope of judicial review in such matters is very minimal in as much as it is permissible only when decisions are taken contrary to the law. Continuous judicial review in matters of administration is not permissible. The executive should be allowed to exercise free hands in matters of administration,” the ministry’s affidavit read.
“All the reliefs sought in the writ petition as stated above relate to the policy of the government and most of the reliefs have become infructuous in view of the Sports Code that was introduced in 2011 subsequent to filing of the writ petition. Further, it is submitted that these are not adversarial proceedings before the government. However, if the petitioner has any interest in promoting sports, he is welcome to submit suggestions for consideration of the government,” the affidavit added.
During the last hearing into the matter on August 7, the bench had directed the ministry to file a para-wise reply to Mehra’s over 250-page affidavit, in which the lawyer had detailed the non-compliance of sports code by almost all 57 derecognised NSFs. The ministry had, in turn, sent a 25-point questionnaire to the NSFs, seeking details about their code compliance. The NSFs’ submission would have formed part of the ministry’s reply to the court.
The ministry, on Thursday, informed the bench that the NSFs’ code compliance status report and remarks will be submitted before it in a separate sealed cover. “Without prejudice to the foregoing, it is submitted that the status of compliance of the said 57 NSFs with the sports code and the remarks/proposed action of the ministry of the government of India, which cannot be divulged in the public domain at present, will be placed before the this Hon’ble Court in a separate sealed cover for its consideration.”
“The recognition of NSFs by the ministry is regulated as per the provisions of the sports code which is a compilation of various instructions/guidelines issued by the government post 2001 for assistance to NSFs, with necessary modifications. The sports code contains government’s instructions/guidelines for grant of government recognition to NSFs; limiting age and tenure of office bearers of NSFs, including the lOA; model election guidelines; measures to combat fraud in age of players; prevention of sexual harassment of women in sports; etc. It is further submitted that the sports code, being framed by the government (MYAS) in order to enable various sports federations to avail recognition, consequent grants etc., is binding on every sports body recognised thereunder.”
“It is submitted that the administration of sports in the country is the exclusive domain of the government (MYAS) under the constitutional scheme. The said code is part of the policy of the government with respect to administration of sports. The government, in the matter of administration, is required to take various decisions from time to time depending on the need of the hour and entailing circumstances. In light of such needs and circumstances, the relaxation of certain provisions of the sports code is permissible and well within the domain of the government,” the affidavit explained.
On Mehra’s certain objections and seeking of directions to the government on accounts of various other discrepancies in the functioning of the NSFs and Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the ministry maintained that while some of the issues are entirely a matter of policy decision-making and falls under the ‘Executive’ domain, in which the courts cannot interfere, the other objections raised are “not maintainable” and thus require the quashing of the writ petition.