The Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court has directed the charity commissioner to appoint an administrator of the Vidarbha Hockey Association (VHA). The directive was issued by the court while hearing a writ petition was filed by Vidarbha Hockey Association president BC Bhartia and secretary Vinod Gavai against the Hockey India’s decision not to permit its teams to participate in national level tournaments in the year 2019.
Justice Ravi Deshpande and Justice Shriram Modak also directed both the factions of the VHA to appear before the charity commissioner on April 22 and submit their reply in written. It also asked them to suggest names from the sports fraternity eligible to be made administrator of VHA. The committee of administrators would be eligible to select teams for national tournaments till the ongoing dispute in the VHA is not settled unanimously.
It is pertinent to note here that Hockey India (HI), governing body of hockey in India, had suspended VHA’s membership following a dispute between the two factions. The decision was taken after HI received two separate teams from Gavai and Arvind Joshi factions of the VHA for the 9th Hockey India National Championship 2019.
The petitioners have prayed for quashing of the Hockey India’s communication to the VHA via Email, which intimates to the VHA, suspension of its membership of the national body and debarring its teams from participation in national level matches.
