New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday restored the functioning of the ad-hoc committee of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The court gave this verdict on a petition seeking to stop the functioning of WFI in its present form and to prevent it from carrying out any activity as a national federation for the sport.
Justice Sachin Dutta passed an interim order on the petition of renowned wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and her husband Satyawart Kadian, saying that the IOA can reconstitute the committee.
The wrestlers, who were at the forefront of the protest at Jantar Mantar last year demanding the arrest of then WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, had approached the high court earlier this year to quash and declare the election of the federation’s office bearers in December as illegal.
Sanjay Singh, a Brij Bhushan loyalist, was elected the new WFI chief in elections held on 21 December 2023.
In their plea for interim relief, the petitioners had sought a stay on the functioning of the WFI in its present form and to restrain it from carrying out any activities as the national federation for the sport of wrestling.
The Centre had suspended the WFI on December 24, 2023, three days after the election of new office bearers, for allegedly not following the provisions of its constitution while taking the decision, and requested the IOA to constitute an ad-hoc committee to manage and control its affairs.
In February, United World Wrestling lifted the suspension, resulting in the IOA also disbanding its ad-hoc committee for wrestling in March.
On March 4, the court had issued notice to the Central Government, WFI and the ad-hoc committee of WFI on the wrestlers’ petition.