Delhi HC ruling gives IHF voting rights

In another interesting twist to IOA elections, the Delhi high court upheld an appeal made by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on Wednesday, which will grant them the voting rights for the polls according to a federation’s official.

The IOA granted the right to Hockey India, a body recognised by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). Three members of the IHF — Dinesh Reddy, Jatinder Peter and RK Shetty — had been granted permission to attend the meeting but were not given voting rights. “However, the court observed that since we are member of the IOA and the governing body in India, at least till March 2013, we should be given voting rights too,” IHF secretary general Ashok Mathur said.

The ruling, if implemented, will mean that hockey will have more votes than any other sport with both, IHF and HI, having three votes each. Justice VK Bali, the returning officer, said they will strictly follow the high court order: “Though we are not informed about the IHF development yet, we will strictly go as per the court’s order. There is no doubt about this,” Bali said.
—With inputs from Chander Shekhar Luthra