Sarita Devi suspension: HC seeks responses of IOA,Boxing India

Delhi High Court has sought the response of Boxing India, Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and boxer Laisram Sarita Devi on a plea challenging her suspension by the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for refusing to accept the bronze medal at the Asian Games in South Korea.
A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw issued notice to the boxer and two sports bodies and sought their replies after the petitioner, a lawyer, submitted there is a provision under the Olympic Charter which provides for an appeal against its decision before Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland.

"The additional affidavit dated January 9 filed on behalf of the petitioner is taken on record. The standing counsel appearing for Union of India - respondent 1 (IOA) undertakes to file the counter affidavit within four weeks.
"Issue notice to respondent 1 (IOA), 3 (Boxing India) and 5 (Sarita Devi), returnable on April 15, 2015," the bench said after perusing the affidavit filed by the petitioner, senior advocate Rajiv Dutta.
Sarita, who had refused to accept the medal to protest against her controversial semifinal bout loss, has been banned retrospectively from Oct one last year to Oct one this year and fined 1000 Swiss Francs.

The affidavit, filed through advocate Siddharth Dutta, has stated that AIBA statute recognises the jurisdiction of CAS in relation to any dispute covered by rules of the Olympic Charter and provides that any dispute in connection with Olympic Games will be exclusively dealt with by CAS.

"Rule 59 (now Rule 61) is equally applicable to the conduct of the Asian Games, and therefore, decisions of the AIBA judicial authorities passed pursuant to Article 59.1(b) of the Procedural Rules are inherently capable of being referred in appeal to CAS," the affidavit has said.
Article 59.1 (b) states that final decisions of the AIBA judicial authorities relating to a dispute are subject to an appeal to the CAS.

The submission comes in the wake of Boxing India's contention on January 5 that no appeal lies against AIBA's decision.