Following an order of the Delhi High Court, the Sports Ministry withdrew the annual recognition of 54 Nationals Sports Federations (NSFs), including tennis, badminton, football, table tennis, chess, swimming, on Thursday.
The latest letter from the Ministry, addressed to the Director General, Sports Authority of India, stated, “in compliance with the Order dated 24.06.2020 passed by the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, the Department’s letter of even number 02.06.2020 granting provisional annual recognition of 54 NSFs stands withdrawn.”
Fresh notice
On Wednesday, a Delhi High Court bench, comprising Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Najmi Waziri, directed the Sports Ministry to “issue a fresh notice within two days intimating all 54 NSFs concerned that its order giving provisional renewal till September 30, 2020, stands recalled.”
What irked the bench was the defiance of its February 7 order that clearly directed the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the Ministry not to take a decision related to the federations without informing the Court.
Later, as the Court observed, “MYAS (Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports) has on its own proceeded to provisionally renew the annual recognition in respect of 54 federations.”
Some of the prominent disciplines affected are: chess, football, tennis, carrom, baseball, kabaddi, soft tennis, athletics, atya patya, badminton, ball badminton, basketball, billiards and snooker, boxing, bridge, cycle polo, cycling, equestrian, fencing, handball, hockey, polo, bodybuilding, kayaking and canoeing, pencak silat, rugby, triathlon, weightlifting, judo, karate, kho-kho, kudo, mallakhamb, shooting, netball, roll ball, roller-skating, sepak takraw, shooting ball, softball, squash, swimming, table tennis, tennikoit, tennis ball cricket, ten-pin bowling, tug-of-war, volleyball, wrestling, wushu, yachting, sports council for the deaf and motor sports.
