Delhi High Court appoints retd. Judge as Court Commissioner for holding elections of Taekwondo Federation of India

The Delhi High Court has appointed a retired High Court Judge, Justice R.S. Sodhi as the Court Commissioner cum- Returning Officer for holding the elections to the executive committee of the Taekwondo Federation of India, ANI reports.

The court was hearing the petition preferred by two players in the sport Taekwondo and sought a direction from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to conduct elections for the Executive Committee of the Taekwondo Federation of India as per the electoral college prepared by Justice R.S. Sodhi (Retd) on May 2016, in compliance of the court’s order dated March 13, 2016.

A bench of Justice Rekha Palli, in an order passed on April 28, 2022, said that “the writ petition, therefore deserves to be allowed by appointing a Court Commissioner cum- Returning Officer to conduct elections for the executive committee of the Taekwondo Federation of India.

With the consent of the parties, the writ petition along with all pending applications is accordingly allowed.

It would be in the interest of the sport to direct the holding of fresh elections to the executive committee of the Taekwondo Federation of India to enable the Union of India to take expeditious steps for recognizing a suitable federation as the National Sports Federation for the sport of Taekwondo, court stated.

“Before I conclude to safeguard the interests of the players, it would be necessary to pass orders to ensure the selection of the Indian team/players to represent the country in international taekwondo events till such time when a duly elected federation is appointed as the National Sports Federation by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports”, said Justice Palli.

“It is a common case of the parties that vide its communication dated September 11, 2015, the ministry of sports and youth affairs had directed the Sports Authority of India (SAI) to carry out the selections of Taekwondo team to represent the country which directions have been reiterated as recently as on April 5, 2022, and April 20, 2022.

Keeping in view the fact that the SAI appears to have not taken its responsibility seriously in the recent past, it would be in the interest of justice to direct SAI to make a timely selection of players for representing the country in international events of taekwondo for representing the country by consulting one of the three renowned players of taekwondo, whose names have been unanimously suggested by the parties which are Rakesh Singh, Sandeep Kundu, Seema Deswal, stated the order.

The order further stated that, once the elections of the Taekwondo Federation of India are held under this order, it is expected that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports will take expeditious steps to recognize a suitable federation as the National Sports Federation for the sport of Taekwondo.