The requirement for players to attend national camps for selection violates merit-based criteria under the Sports Code, emphasizing that individual training preferences must be honored in sports.

JUDGMENT

Rekha Palli, J. (ORAL)--The present petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, has been preferred by a renowned Table Tennis player, presently ranked at world number 56 in Women's Table Tennis, assailing the "Rules and Regulations for National Camp" issued by the respondent no.1/the Table Tennis Federation of India on 04.08.2021, which interalia mandate compulsory attendance of players at the National Coaching Camp organized by the said respondent, in order to be selected for international events.

2. At the outset it may be noted that though the petitioner has, by way of prayer (ii), sought a direction to the respondent no.1 to include her name in the contingent representing India at the upcoming 25th ITFF - Asian Table Tennis Championship, 2021 to be held from 28.09.2021 to 05.10.2021 at Doha; learned senior counsel for the petitioner submits on instructions that keeping in view the limited time left for the commencement of the aforesaid tournament, the petitioner now does not wish to participate therein and therefore, does not press prayer (ii) any further.

3. The petition is, therefore, now confined to seeking the following reliefs:

"(i) A Writ of Certiorari or any other writ, order or direction quashing the Rules and Regulations titled as "Rules and Regulations for National Camp" dated 04.08.2021 (Annexure P4, [Pg. 289]) issued by Respondent No. 1; and

(iii) A Writ of Mandamus or any other writ, order or direction thereby directing the Respondent No. 2 to enquire into the management of the Respondent No. 1; conduct of Respondent No. 3 and other officials of Respondent No. 1 as detailed in the present petition and the email of the Petitioner dated 14.08.2021 and the representation sent by the Petitioner to Respondent No.1 dated 17.09.2021 and Respondent No.2 dated 17.09.2021 under the supervision of this Hon'ble Court."

4. The respondent no.1/the Table Tennis Federation of India, having been recognized by respondent no. 2/Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as a National Sports Federation (hereinafter referred to as "NSF") for the sport of Table Tennis, has the duty to select the national team to represent India in all major international tournaments held under the aegis of International Table Tennis Federation, International Olympic Federation, Asian Table Tennis Union, as also to manage and regulate the national and inter-state Table Tennis Championships and to maintain a list of annual rankings of the players.

5. The respondent no.2, apart from laying down the framework for functioning of NSFs such as the respondent no.1, also has the right to suspend or withdraw the recognition of a NSF in the event of irregularities being detected in their functioning, in accordance with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 (hereinafter referred to as "Sports Code, 2011")

6. The petitioner has successfully represented India in various tournaments internationally since 2008 and has won several laurels for the country, and in recognition thereof, she was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award i.e. India's highest sporting honour, in 2020. It is the petitioner's case that from 2018, since the quality of her training at Delhi was not satisfactory, her performance started suffering and therefore, she began training under the tutelage of a personal coach and support staff at a training institute, duly accredited by respondent no.2, situated in Pune. Consequently, there was a marked improvement in her performance, and she becam