Delhi High Court on Friday restored the mandate of IOA's ad hoc committee to manage the affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India.
The interim order was passed on the appeal filed by wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian earlier this year.
In a plea seeking a stay on the functioning of the WFI in its present forms and preventing it from undertaking any activity as a national federation for the sport, Justice Sachin Datta said it was open to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) re-constituting the committee.
"Since this Court has concluded that the dissolution of the ad-hoc committee was unwarranted, it restores the mandate of the ad-hoc committee appointed by the IOA vide order dated 27.12.2023,” said Datta.
He continued, “However, it shall be open to IOA to reconstitute the ad-hoc committee to ensure that the same is a multi-member body comprising of eminent sportsperson/s and/or experts who are well-versed in dealing with the International Federations, to allay any concerns that the UWW might have as regards the steps taken qua the WFI,” the Court said.
The wrestlers, who were at the forefront of last year's protest at Jantar Mantar demanding the arrest of outgoing Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh for alleged sexual harassment of seven women grapplers, had moved the high court earlier this year for setting aside WFI and declaring the elections held as illegal.
The elections conducted to elect the office bearers of the federation were held in December.
Sanjay Singh, a Brij Bhushan loyalist, was elected the new WFI chief in the polls held on December 21, 2023.
In their plea for interim relief, the petitioners had sought a stay on the functioning of the WFI in its present form and prevented it from undertaking any activity as a national federation for the sport of wrestling.
The Centre had suspended the WFI on December 24, 2023, three days after it elected the new office bearers, for allegedly not following the provisions of its constitution while taking decisions and requested IOA to constitute an ad-hoc committee to manage and control its affairs.
In February, world wrestling body UWW lifted the suspension (that it had implied in August 2023, for not conducting elections on time) leading to IOA also dissolving its ad-hoc committee for wrestling in March 2024.
On March 4, the court issued notice to the central government, WFI and the ad-hoc committee of WFI informing them of the petition filed by the top grapplers.
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