HOCKEY JHARKHAND Vs. THE UNION OF INDIA ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Seeking quashing of the list of members uploaded on the official website of "Hockey India" displaying the names of respondent Nos. 4 to 7 as office -bearers of "Hockey Jharkhand", the present writ petition has been filed.

(2.) The learned counsel for the petitioner states that during the pendency of the writ petition, Bhola Nath Singh and Vijay Shankar Singh have been recognised as the President and the Secretary, respectively of "Hockey Jharkhand" and therefore, an interlocutory application being, I.A. No. 4618 of 2015 has been filed for impleading the above -named two persons as respondent Nos. 9 and 10 and for quashing the list of members reflecting the name of Bhola Nath Singh and Vijay Shankar Singh as President and Secretary of "Hockey Jharkhand". It is submitted that the "Hockey India" is funded by the Government of India and it has been brought under the purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005. The "Hockey Jharkhand" is a registered body, duly registered under the Societies Registration Act and therefore, any change in the constitution of "Hockey Jharkhand" can be effected only by the approval of the Inspector General of Registration. However, Mr. Narinder Batra, who is the Secretary General of the "Hockey India", in a completely arbitrary manner has recognised different persons as the office -bearers of "Hockey Jharkhand". The action of "Hockey India" in recognising individuals as office -bearers is contrary to the Bye -laws of "Hockey Jharkhand". On these grounds, the petitioner has sought quashing of the list of office -bearers uploaded on the website of "Hockey India".

(3.) In the writ petition, it has been asserted that "Hockey Jharkhand" is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 vide Certificate of Registration dated 26.05.2010. The "Hockey Jharkhand" has its own registered Bye -laws which provides the manner of election of the office -bearers. Under the Bye -laws Mr. T.P. Sinha as the President, Mr. Harnam Singh as Vice President, Mr. Francis Xavier Soren as Vice President and Mr. Peer Mohammed as General Secretary were elected and the Committee had a tenure of 4 years. It is stated that "Hockey Jharkhand" has devoted its efforts for development of the game of Hockey in the State of Jharkhand. Vide letter dated 16.08.2009 seeking affiliation of "Hockey Jharkhand" under Shri T.P. Sinha, a request was made to "Hockey India" and the "Hockey India" granted affiliation. Subsequently, without issuing any notice and without following the procedure under the Bye -laws of the "Hockey Jharkhand", names of respondent Nos. 4 to 7 were uploaded on the website as office -bearers of "Hockey Jharkhand". As noticed above, subsequently, the names of proposed respondent Nos. 9 and 10 have also been put on the website.