Supreme Court Upholds Stay on Wrestling Federation of India Elections
In a significant development, the Supreme Court has decided not to meddle with the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s ruling that put a stay on the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) elections. The directive came from a bench led by Justices Abhay S Oka and Pankaj Mithal, who advised the petitioner, the Andhra Pradesh Amateur Wrestling Association, to seek redress directly from the high court.
The bench explicitly stated,
“Why should we entertain this? You go to the high court…Instead of applying for vacating the interim stay, the petitioner has chosen to approach the Supreme Court. We, therefore, decline to entertain this special leave petition.”
This was in response to the petitioner’s decision to file a Special Leave Petition (SLP) on August 17, bypassing the high court.
Further elaborating on their stance, the court added,
“Instead of applying to the High Court for vacating of the interim relief, the petitioner has chosen to file this SLP on August 17. We, therefore, decline to entertain this SLP under Article 136 of the Constitution. However, it will be open for the petitioner to be impleaded before the High Court and file an application for vacation of stay. We are sure that the High Court will give necessary importance to the matter.”
The initial decision by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to stay the WFI polls was met with resistance from the Andhra Pradesh Amateur Wrestling Association. In a bid to overturn the decision, the association approached the Supreme Court. During the proceedings, the association’s counsel drew attention to the WFI’s recent derecognition by United World Wrestling. Describing the derecognition as a
“national shame,”
they emphasized the importance of allowing the elections to continue. They also pointed out that the apex court had, in the past, lifted similar stays.
The Andhra Pradesh Amateur Wrestling Association was represented by Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu and Advocate Anuj Tyagi. On the other side, Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar made a case for the Haryana Wrestling Association, while Attorney General R Venkataramani appeared on behalf of the Union of India.
The legal wrangling over the WFI elections has become a central issue in the sports domain, with all eyes on the courts for the next course of action.
