No legal jurisdiction over international sport bodies: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday said Indian courts’ jurisdiction does not extend to international organisations as it dismissed a plea by Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) seeking to implead International Hockey Federation (FIH) in its plea for recognition by the international body controlling hockey events. “It is the international body that will decide who will be its members,” a bench of Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice S.A. Bobde said holding that the “jurisdiction of the courts of this country does not apply to the international body”. [caption id=“attachment_1396279” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. AFP[/caption] The IHF had challenged the Delhi High Court allowing the FIH’s plea that it should be deleted as a respondent in the IHF’s plea before it. Appearing for the IHF, senior counsel U.U.Lalit told the court that after the ruling of the single judge that it represented the hockey in India, it could not be unsettled by anyone else. The court was told that FIH sitting in Switzerland could not decide who will represent Indian hockey in the international arena. “International authority can’t say I will recognize you. I will recognize who will represent hockey sports in the country,” Lalit told the apparently unimpressed court. The court said that “if the quarrel is between the Indian Olympic Association and the Indian Hockey Federation, then they will be bound by the direction of the courts”. The court was told that the FIH has set up a three-member committee that will decide whether the IHF or Hockey India would represent the sport in the internationals circuit. Lalit told the court that since the high court order holding the IHF represented hockey in India has not been suspended by any other court, it was the only body to represent hockey under the law. IANS