Sports Ministry suspends newly-elected Wrestling Federation of India till further notice: Report

The Sports Ministry on Sunday suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) till further orders after the newly-elected body made a “hasty announcement” and showed disregard for existing rules and regulations. The WFI got a new president only on 21 December when former head Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s loyalist, Sanjay Singh, swept the polls by big margins. After winning the elections, Sanjay Singh announced that U-15 and U-20 nationals would take place in Nandini Nagar, Gonda (UP) before the end of 2023. The Sports Ministry has said that the announcement was against the rules. “This announcement is hasty, without giving sufficient notice to wrestlers who are to take part in the said nationals and without following the provisions of the constitution of WFI. As per clause 3 (e) of the preamble of the constitution of WFI, the object of the WFI, among others, is to arrange the holding of Senior, Junior and Sub Junior National Championships as per UWW Rules at places selected by the Executive Committee,” the Sports Ministry was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “Such decisions are to be taken by the Executive Committee, before which agendas are required to be placed for consideration. As per Article XI of the WFI constitution under the Heading ‘Notices and Quorum for Meetings’, the minimum notice period for EC meetings is 15 clear days and the quorum is of 1/3rd of representatives. Even for Emergency EC meetings, the minimum notice period is 7 clear days with a quorum requirement of 1/3rd of representatives,” the ministry added. The Sports Ministry further added that the Secretary General was not involved in the decision-making and that the functioning of the newly elected executive violates National Sports Code as it seems to be in “complete control of the former office bearers”. “Further, in terms of Article X (d) of the Constitution of WFI, it is the Secretary General of WFI, who has been made responsible for carrying out the general business of the Federation, keeping the minutes of the meetings, maintaining all the records of the Federation, calling the meetings of the General Council and the Executive Committee. It seems the Secretary-General has not been involved in the said meeting of EC, which was held without any notice or quorum,” it stated. “The decisions made by the newly elected executive body of the WFI demonstrate a blatant disregard for the established legal and procedural norms, violating both the WFI’s constitutional provisions and the National Sports Development Code. The newly elected body appeared to be in complete control of former office bearers in complete disregard to the Sports Code. The business of the Federation is being run from the premises controlled by former office bearers,” the ministry said.