New Delhi, Jul 3 The Delhi High Court on Friday reserved its verdict on pleas by riders Anush Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela challenging their exclusion from the dressage team for the upcoming Asian Games.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upahdyaya and Justice Tejas Karia heard on merits the appeal by the two athletes challenging a single judge's June 29 order that refused to interfere with the selections after the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) refused to agree to the appointment of an independent expert to evaluate the rankings of the selected athletes.
The counsel for the ad hoc committee running the EFI contended that the "best" riders had already been selected for the sporting event and that the appeals were "not a fair attempt by genuine persons".
The counsel asserted that once the single judge has already given a decision upholding the selections, the central government cannot sit in appeal over it, and appointing any such expert would amount to external influence over a national sports federation, which is not permissible.
The court said that if such an independent evaluation was ordered, it would be undertaken in cooperation with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), and an EFI nominee could also be involved.
It also clarified that it would not make any observations on the quality of selections by the EFI.
Relying on a media report, the EFI lawyer, however, claimed that the Centre was proceeding with a "pre-determined outcome" to "back" one of the appellants.
The senior counsel for Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela have earlier agreed to the Centre's suggestion.
The court heard the senior counsel appearing for the appellants and lawyers appearing for the Centre, EFI and other parties at length before reserving the verdict.
"Arguments heard. Judgement reserved," the bench said.
On June 29, the single judge had upheld the EFI's selection process for the Asian Games dressage team, dismissing petitions filed by riders Agarwalla and Hajela.
The single judge had held that the selection criteria were applied fairly and there was no arbitrariness, perversity or procedural impropriety warranting judicial interference.
Both riders had challenged the June 16 selection list issued by the EFI's ad hoc committee for the dressage event at the Asian Games in Japan, where they were placed as reserve riders -- Agarwalla as first reserve and Hajela as second reserve -- while four riders were selected ahead of them.
The single judge, however, rejected all their challenges, including objections to the calculation of Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs), the interpretation of the selection criteria, the absence of additional selection trials and allegations of bias in the selection committee.
The case arose from the selection of India's dressage team for the Asian Games to be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4.
