Himachal Pradesh High Court stays orders passed by single judge in Boxing Federation case

A double Bench of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, comprising Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Satyen Vaidya on Friday stayed Justice Ajay Mohan Goel’s March 20 decision ordering the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) Returning Officer Justice (retd.) RK Gauba to include Anurag Singh Thakur in the BFI electoral college.

Hearing an appeal by BFI President Ajay Singh, the Bench recorded that Anurag Singh Thakur, a former Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports and a former President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, has not himself challenged the rejection of Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association nomination by the BFI President Ajay Singh. 

The Bench, which held that proceedings before the Returning Officer were neither the subject matter of the challenge nor were appended with the Writ when it was filed on March 17, also stayed Justice Ajay Mohan Goel’s March 26 order that held Justice (retd.) Gauba’s decision to pause the BFI elections. 

Chief Justice GS Sandhawalia and Justice Satyen Vaidya held that the allegation that the Returning Officer had conducted some proceedings without notice to Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association required a deeper look. 

The Bench also stayed the contempt proceedings initiated by the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association against Justice (retd.) Gauba, BFI President Ajay Singh, Secretary (Sports) in the Ministry of Youth Affairs Sujata Chaturvedi and Sports Authority of India Deputy Director General Mayank Srivastava. 

The Chief Justice and his colleague were of the opinion that no part of the cause of action, except the forwarding of nomination and the receipt of rejection, had arisen within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh. A large part of Justice Ajay Mohan Goel’s March 20 order had focused on establishing the High Court had a jurisdiction.

There have been quite a few cases challenging the non-selection of teams and athletes in High Courts other than Delhi. As recently as in January 2022, the Allahabad High Court directed Sports Authority of India to ensure participation of the Indian men’s handball team in the Asian Championship in Saudi Arabia.

In 2016, the Kerala High Court directed Athletics Federation of India to include Anu Raghavan in the Rio Olympic Games women’s 4x400m relay squad. The following year, the same court ordered the Central Government to ensure the participation of PU Chithra in the World Athletics Championships in London.