The court mandated fair elections for the sports association, emphasizing adherence to amendments as per governing sports federation rules.

JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)--This hearing has been done by video conferencing.

2. The present petition concerns the election of the Delhi Capital Badminton Association (hereinafter, "DCBA"), which is affiliated with the Badminton Association of India (hereinafter, "BAI").

3. The BAI is a registered sports federation for the sport of badminton in India, under which all the state associations function. Various disputes have arisen between two factions within the DCBA, one consisting of the erstwhile Secretary -Mr. S.P. Singh Dhillon and one consisting of the present Secretary Mr. A.K. Mittal. The elections for the various posts of the New Executive Committee of DCBA which were scheduled for December, 2020 have not been held. A dispute has arisen that 10 candidates were elected unopposed.

4. Without going into the history of the elections, wherein the candidates were elected unopposed and the several disputes between the two warring groups/factions in the DCBA, it is considered appropriate that the entire process of election is now conducted in a fair and transparent manner, under the supervision of independent persons.

5. Ld. Counsels submit that the constitution of the DCBA is yet to be mended in accordance with the directions issued by the BAI from time to time. Hence, this Court is of the opinion that the elections ought to be held after the constitution of the DCBA is strictly amended in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the BAI. The BAI has called upon the DCBA to carry out certain amendments. Accordingly, the following directions are passed:

a) In accordance with the directions issued by the BAI from time to time, the constitution of the DCBA shall be amended. For the said purpose, a meeting shall be called by the Secretary, BAI under whose supervision the amendment of the constitution of the DCBA shall be carried out. The amended constitution shall then be sent for approval to the BAI.

b) Upon the BAI perusing the amended constitution and approving the same, the DCBA can go ahead and conduct the elections for the Executive committee.

c) There are a total of 30 posts in the Executive Committee of the DCBA. The elections shall be held for all the posts, strictly in accordance with amended constitution of the DCBA.

6. All meetings of the DCBA shall henceforth be held under the supervision of Mr. Ajay K. Singhania, Secretary General, BAI. For the purpose of conducting the elections of the DCBA, Justice (Retd.) Brijesh Sethi (M:9910384669), is appointed as the Returning Officer (hereinafter, "RO"). The elections shall be held strictly under the supervision, control and directions of the RO. The RO shall be paid a lumpsum of Rs.5 lakhs at this stage by the DCBA for the purpose of conducting the election. Upon the conduct of the elections, the new body, as approved by the RO, shall take over and ensure the smooth functioning of the day to day activities of the DCBA.

7. At this stage, a dispute has arisen between the Petitioner and Respondent No.4 as to whether the elections should be held for 30 posts or 15 posts. This Court has perused the order passed by the ld. Single Judge of this Court in W.P.(C) 5074/2018 titled S.P. Singh Dhillon v. UOI & Ors., wherein a settlement had been arrived at between the DCBA and the Delhi Badminton Association (hereinafter, "DBA"). Vide the MOU/Compromise it was agreed that the DBA would dissolve itself as a registered society by merging with the DCBA. The relevant portion of the order recording the MOU/Compromise is extracted herein below:

"2. The petitioner is the Hony. Secretary of the Delhi Capital Badminton Association (DCBA) was an office bearer of the erstwhile Delhi Badminton Association (DBA). DBA had filed the writ petition being W.P.(C) 3326/2013 captioned "Delhi Badminton Association v. Badminton Association of India & Ors." before this court, impugning the actions of Badminton Association of India (BAI), in recognising only DCBA as it is affiliate asso