Archery mess: Delhi HC directs sports ministry to form transitory committee

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the sports ministry to form a five-member transitory committee to look into the state of affairs of the suspended Archery Association of India till fresh elections are held.

Hearing a PIL in the Rahul Mehra versus Union of India & Ors, a Delhi HC Special Bench comprising Justice S Murlidhar and Najmi Waziri directed that the committee will be constituted latest by August 23 and hold its first meeting on August 24.

The committee will be headed by retired Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court Justice B D Ahmad and will have one representative each from the sports ministry, Indian Olympic Association, and the two AAI factions, Mehra tweeted.

"The committee is constituted to ensure Archery Association of India (AAI) once again enjoys good standing with World Archery Federation (WAF) so that our Archers are permitted to represent India under Indian flag in the forthcoming qualifying tournaments & Tokyo Olympics," Mehra wrote.

An AAI official said the committee will be constituted to oversee the day-to-day affairs of Indian Archery, which was suspended by the world body on Thursday for defying its guidelines by electing two parallel bodies.

"This committee will not take a call about fresh election procedures but will run the show till a new body comes to power. We are expecting to hear about fresh election procedures in the next hearing slated for August 16," he said.

The World Archery suspended the Archery Association of India for defying its guidelines by electing two parallel bodies, asking the federation to put its house in order by the end of this month.

The decision is effective from Monday and the last event in which the archers can participate under the Indian flag is the World Archery Youth Championships in Madrid from August 19-25. After that the Indian archers' participation in international events under the National flag stands jeopardised unless a resolution is made.