A I SINGH Vs. UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) 16. 04. 2009 the present petitions styled as a 'public Interest Petition' have been filed by the petitioners seeking directions to the Government of india inter alia to act upon the report submitted by respondent No. 3 as also to enquire into the affairs of respondent No. 2; to de-recognize respondent No. 2; to establish a transparent and fair system for training, ranking and selection of players and for conduct of tournaments amongst the other reliefs.

(2.) THE petitioner No. 1 claims to be a highly qualified Squash coach who is also the Secretary of petitioner No. 2 Association and the petitioners are associated with the game of Squash in some form or the other and claimed to have made numerous efforts to promote squash by way of coaching and administration in their respective states. It is the grievance of the petitioners that respondent No. 2 is the National Federation for the game of Squash which purports to control and dominate the sport inasmuch as it monopolizes government patronage and money, monopolizes the selection of the players who represent India and monopolizes the affairs of the sport of Squash in the country to the detriment of India. It is also contended by the petitioners that respondent No. 2 is not functioning and acting for the sole purpose of development of Squash causing great and irreversible damage to the game of Squash in India. The petitioners allege that there are serious irregularities in the functioning of respondent No. 2, which is guilty of mismanaging the sport of Squash in India and that respondent No. 2 has deliberately not followed the guidelines as issued by the Government of India. The petitioners thus seek directions to the Government of India to immediately intervene inter alia by acting on various reports made by the respondent No. 3 to the Government of India as also take cognizance of various newspaper articles and complaints filed by several effected parties and to take charge of the affairs of respondent No. 2.

(3.) COUNTER-AFFIDAVIT has been filed on behalf of respondent No. 2. It has been contended that the petitioners have floated rival associations which are not affiliates/member of the Apex body, namely, respondent No. 2 and are being run parallel to existing affiliated associations in order to disturb a proper channel/route and to confuse the Squash players for their ulterior motives. It is the allegation of the respondent No. 2 that the petitioners have chosen this method of filing baseless cases, complaints against respondent no. 2 to thwart the smooth functioning of the respondent Association. The respondent No. 2 has further averred that the present Public interest Petition is actually for serving the private ends of the petitioners and in order to sub-serve their rivalry, petitioners have invoked the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Hon'ble Court to settle personal grievances. It is also the stand of respondent No. 2 that petitioners have heavily relied upon the report of Brig. Raj manchanda, respondent No. 3 herein and that petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 have not disclosed that petitioner No. 1 along with the same Brig. Raj Manchanda founded this parallel and rival Chandigarh Squash racket Association, now known as Indian Squash Association. Brig. Raj Manchanda has instigated this vindictive campaign against respondent No. 2 for his collateral purposes. It is also the case of respondent No. 2 that the writ petitions involve several serious disputed questions of fact and further that respondent No. 2 is not a state within the meaning of Article 226 of the Constitution of India and there is no deep and pervasive control of the Government over the said body.