Jagran correspondent, New Delhi. Dismissing petitions filed by a Chandigarh-based horse riding club and parties associated with it, the Delhi High Court has said that clubs affiliated to the Equestrian Federation of India (EFEI) do not have voting rights in the administration of the federation. A bench of Justices Anil Kshetrapal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar said the participation of clubs and institutional members in the EFEI elections was contrary to the National Sports Code.
The court said that Sections 3.9 and 3.10 of the Sports Code clearly state that voting rights in the electoral college of the national federation are reserved not for the clubs or individual members but for the affiliated State Associations (SA) and Union Territory Associations (UTAs).
The court said that according to the National Sports Code, a club has no statutory or legal right to participate in or influence the administration of the National Sports Federation. The bench said that if clubs are allowed to vote, it will weaken the structure of representatives prescribed in the Sports Code.
Recognized as the national federation of equestrian sport since 1967, the EFI allows clubs, individuals and institutional units to become members with voting rights. State associations questioned this structure, arguing that it gave certain clubs and institutions undue control over the federation.