Baseball Association Chandigarh & ANR v. Amateur Baseball Federation Of India

$~32 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 7264/2016 & CM 29911/2016 BASEBALL ASSOCIATION CHANDIGARH & ANR ..... Petitioners Through:

Mr Arunav Patnaik and Ms Bhabna Das, Advocates.

versus AMATEUR BASEBALL FEDERATION OF INDIA ..... Respondent Through:

Mr Mohd. Zahid Hussain, Advocate.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SIDDHARTH MRIDUL

O R D E R

% 22.08.2016 The present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India essentially seeks a direction to the Returning Officer, appointed by this court to conduct the election to the Amateur Baseball Federation of India, to permit the faction represented through Mr P.Bharadwaj, to cast their ballots at the said election, which may then be kept in a sealed cover to be adjudicated upon by the Returning Officer only in the event the counting of the other votes at the impending election are not determinative by themselves. Mr Patnaik, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner No.2, i.e.

, Mr Vijay Thakur, who purports to be a duly elected General Secretary of the Baseball Association Chandigarh, a registered body, states that the said direction would be in consonance with the determination arrived at by the Returning Officer as early as on 31.07.2016 in the list of Electoral College for the said election, which includes, inter alia, the names of Mr Vidya Sagar at column no.9 thereof and Mr Vijay Thakur, at column no.10 thereof; as well as the decision arrived at by him on 05.08.2016, as reflected in the minutes of the proceedings.

I have heard counsel appearing on behalf of the parties.

In order to determine the issue that has been raised in the present petition, it would be necessary to extract the list of Electoral College dated 31.07.2016 as well as the relevant portions of the minutes of the meeting dated 05.08.2016 recorded by the Returning Officer.

The list of Electoral College dated 31.07.2016 is tabulated as under:- "ANNEXURE A AMATEUR BASEBALL FEDERATION OF INDIA ELECTIONS OF OFFICE BEARERS AND MEMBERS OF MANAGING COMMITTEE FORM 1 LIST OF ELECTORAL COLLEGE Affiliated Member S.No.

Name of Authorized Representatives S. No.

Name of Authorized Representatives A.P. Baseball Association Sh. Achutya Rao 2.

Sh. D. Sajjana Rao Assam Baseball Association 3.

Sh. G. Ali 4.

Smt. Ashma Begum Bengal Baseball Association 5.

Sh. Jahar Das 6.

Sh.

Tapan Sikdar (expired) Sh.

Chandan Roy Choudhary Baseball Association of Bihar 7.

Dr. Madhu Sharma 8.

Sh. Ajay Sharma Baseball Association of Chandigarh 9.

Sh. Vidya Sagar 10.

Sh. Vijay Thakur Chattisgarh Baseball Association 11.

Smt. Caroline Satur 12.

Smt. Mitali Ghosh Baseball Association Delhi 13.

Dr. Bhagat Singh 14.

Sh. P.C. Bhardwaj Goa Baseball Association 15.

Sh. Ramakant S. Angle 16.

Sh. Dilip S. Naik Gujarat State Baseball Association 17.

Sh. Gunvant Makwana 18.

Sh. J.K. Khodadhra H.P. Baseball Association 19.

Dr. Sudhir Mahindru 20.

Sh. Manoj Kohli Haryana Baseball Association 21.

Sh. R.K. Keshwania 22.

Sh. Arvind Kumar J&K Baseball Association 23.

Sh. M.M. Gazanfar 24.

Sh. Fida Hussain Fidvi Jharkhand Baseball Association 25.

Sh. Jai Kumar Sinha 26.

Sh. Vijay Shankar Singh Kerala Baseball Association 27.

Sh. Shahul Hameed K.M.

28.

Sh.

M.N.

Krishnamurthy Baseball Association of Karnataka 29.

Sh. P.M. Ashok 30.

Sh. B.L. Vedamurthy M.P.A. Baseball Association 31.

Smt. Malini Laxman Singh Gaud 32.

Sh. Jasraj Mehta Maharashtra Baseball Association 33.

Sh. N.K. Singh 34.

Sh. Rajendra Ikhankar Manipur Baseball Association 35.

Sh. T.P. Singh 36.

Sh. Indukiran Singh Punjab Baseball Association 37.

Sh. Jagdish Mittal, IPS 38.

Sh. Harish Kumar Baseball Association of Odisha 39.

Sh. Pankaj Lochan Mohanty 40.

Sh. S.N. Pradhan A.B. Association of Pondicherry 41.

Sh. Thiru K. Sarathi 42.

Sh. V. Ilangovane Rajasthan Baseball Association 43.

Sh. Ashok Sharma 44.

Sh. Anup Asthana Tamilnadu Baseball Association 45.

Sh. T.G. Venkatesh Babu 46.

Sh. S. Venkat Baseball Association of Tripura 47.

Sh. Rupak Debroy 48.

Er. M. Chakraborthy U.P. Baseball Association 49.

Dr. D.R. Yadav 50.

Sh. Dinesh Yadav Uttrakhand Baseball Association 51.

Sh. U.N. Challu 52.

Sh. Brijender Pal Singh Rana Sd/- Place:

New Delhi Justice C.K. Mahajan Date: 31.07.2016 Returning Officer"

The relevant portion of the said minutes dated 05.08.2016 recorded by the

Returning Officer, reads as under:- "As the veracity of the elections of Baseball association of Chandigarh has been called into question, it would be appropriate that representatives of both the factions are granted voting rights for Baseball Association of Chandigarh in the interim. However, their ballot will be kept in a sealed envelope and the issue pertaining to the voting rights of Baseball association of Chandigarh will be adjudicated only if the counting of the votes of Baseball Association of Chandigarh, would have a determinative effect on the election of any post in the Amateur Baseball Federation of India (ABFI) Considering the above, the undersigned herby directs that the names of Mr. Jaspal Singh and Mr. Kiran Rampal should also be included in the interim in the electoral Roll of ABFI as representatives of Baseball Association of Chandigarh."

Mr Patnaik would urge that although such a determination had been arrived at as far back as on 05.08.2016, the Returning Officer fell into error in subsequently deleting the names of Mr Vidya Sagar and Mr Vijay Thakur from the list of Electoral College, upon which the said election is being conducted, although the names of Mr. Jaspal Singh and Mr Kiran Rampal are so included. In view of the foregoing, since the polling is underway today, in my view, it would be just, necessary and expedient to direct the Returning Officer to permit the faction represented through Mr P.Bharadwaj, namely, Mr Vidya Sagar and Mr Vijay Thakur, to cast their ballots at the said election, in addition to Mr Jaspal Singh and Mr Kiran Rampal belonging to the other faction of the said Association represented by Mr T.R.Kaila.

It is further clarified that in consonance with the decision arrived at by the Returning Officer on 05.08.2016, their ballots will be kept in a sealed envelope and the issue pertaining to the voting rights of the Baseball Association Chandigarh will be adjudicated only if the counting of the votes of Baseball Association Chandigarh, would have a determinative effect on the election of any post in the said election to the Amateur Baseball Federation of India.

With the above direction the writ petition is disposed of. A copy of this order be given dasti under signature of Court Master to counsel for the parties.

SIDDHARTH MRIDUL, J AUGUST 22, 2016 mk