J.BALU Vs. SECRETARY GENERAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The subject matter of the suit is a decision taken by the first defendant on 05.11.2019 whereby a penalty of Rs.5,00,000/- was imposed on the Applicant/Plaintiff and the Applicant/Plaintiff was prohibited from organising national level car racing events till 31.12.2022. In the said suit, an interim injunction is prayed for to restrain the respondents from, directly or indirectly, enforcing the order of the first respondent dated 05.11.2019 pending disposal of the suit.

(2.) I heard the learned counsel for the Applicant/Plaintiff, the learned counsel for the first Respondent, the learned counsel for Respondents 2,3,5,6,8 and 9 and the learned counsel for the 7 th Respondent.

(3.) The learned counsel for the Applicant made the following submissions. A rally was organised by the 10th respondent at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, between the 19th and 22nd September, 2019. At the request of the 10th respondent, the Applicant became an associate organiser of the rally. The first Respondent is the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI). In order to discharge its function of supervising car rallies and races, the 1st Respondent constituted a sub-committee called Rally Commission (Rallycom) and the Council of the 1st Respondent appointed the 2nd Respondent as the Chairman of Rallycom. Rallycom appointed the 8th Respondent as the Chief Steward and the 9th Respondent as the Observer for the Jodhpur race. The organisers appointed the 7th Respondent as the Clerk of Course (COC). At the rally, an accident occurred at which there were fatalities. Subsequently, a meeting of the Executive Council of the first respondent was convened on 26.09.2019 to review the said accident. At the meeting, those present therein consisted of the representatives of motor sports clubs and certain office-bearers of the first Respondent. At the said meeting, it was decided to constitute an enquiry committee to recommend positive measures to be taken by the FMSCI to avoid such incidents in the future. The members of the enquiry committee were named and appointed at the meeting and they are the 2nd to 6th Respondents herein. At the said meeting, the 7th respondent herein, who is also the President of the first respondent, participated in that capacity. Pursuant thereto, an e-mail was issued on 04.10.2019 to the persons who played various roles in the Jodhpur race, including the 7 th respondent by referring to him as a COC. By the said e-mail, the recipients were put on notice that an enquiry would be conducted by the Enquiry Panel on 12.10.2019. Thereafter, it appears that a meeting of the Council of the 1st Respondent took place on 05.11.2019. At this meeting, the Enquiry Panel's Report was handed over to the 7th and 8th Respondents.