Court order won’t affect us: Hockey India

Hockey India (HI) on Sunday claimed that the recent Delhi high court order, which was passed in favour of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF), will not affect its functioning.

HI secretary general Narinder Batra lashed out at the KPS Gill-led federation, saying: “IHF needs to wake up and realise that this is 2010 and not 2000, when it was still in existence legally.”

Citing the international hockey federation’s (FIH) demands of a unified organisation for men and women, HI said that IHF does not meet the basic criteria.

Batra also pointed out that IHF had lost FIH and Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) recognition in 2000 and was only affiliated to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

“Instead, it was the Indian Hockey Confederation that got FIH’s recognition later but they too haven’t held a single AGM since 2000 nor have they maintained their balance sheet over the last 10 years,” Batra said in a release. The Delhi high court on Friday had repealed the suspension of IHF by IOA and the sports ministry, thus paving way for Gill & Co to make a comeback.

“As per the sports ministry guideline that deals with disaffiliation, it is clearly mentioned that to be affiliated with the ministry, the unit has to be recognised by its international body. Same has been clarified in para 9 of the judgement. Now that IHF is no longer recognised by its international body since 2000, why did the sports ministry wait from 2000 to 2008 to disaffiliate them can be best clarified by them,” the release, signed by Batra, stated.

The release pointed out that “as on today, it is only HI which has affiliation of the IOA, AHF and FIH.