Maharashtra State Wrestling Association Pune through Vice President Dayanand Ramchandra Bhakt Vs the State of Maharashtra

2024:BHC-AUG:5424-DB

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD

WRIT PETITION STAMP NO.7551 OF 2024 (Maharashtra State Wrestling Association, Pune Vs. The State of Maharashtra and Others)

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Mr.S.B.Solanke and Mr.S.S.Bhise, Advocates for the Petitioner. Mr.A.B.Girase, Govt.Pleader a/w Mr.S.B.Narwade, AGP for the Respondent/State.

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DATE : MARCH 10, 2024

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PER COURT :

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On 09.03.2024 (2^nd Saturday), the Court Shirastedar was

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informed that the Petitioner desires to move this Petition for an urgent hearing. The Petition has been filed through E-filing mode. Since 09.03.2024 was a second Saturday (holiday) and the Petition was filed in the evening, the scrutiny is yet to be done. Upon information from the Court Shirastedar, we decided to hold a Court hearing today at 10.30 a.m., though it is a Sunday.

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2. The Petitioner / Maharashtra State Wrestling Association,

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Pune has preferred this Petition through it’s Vice President Shri Dayanand Ramchandra Bhakt. The affidavit in support of this Petition was sworn on 09.03.2024.

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We have considered the extensive submissions of the learned Advocate for the Petitioner and the learned Govt.Pleader, who has made himself available on a Holiday, on behalf of Respondent Nos. 1 to 4.

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In this Petition, the Petitioner contends that the Wrestlers, who have been trained in the Training Facility of the Petitioner, should be permitted to participate in the ‘Swargawasi Khashaba Jadhav Trophy Wrestling Competition’. Amongst the grounds raised, though the learned Advocate for the Petitioner has drawn our attention to each of them, we find that Ground Nos. IV to X are relevant, which read as under :-

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“IV. It ought to have been considered that, as per Government Resolution dated 3.11.2012, more particularly, Rule 3 contained in Schedule A of the said Government Resolution i.e. Rule 3 of Late Khashaba Jadhav State Level Wrestling Competition Rules, 2012

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provides that, total 10 teams are required to be allowed to take part in the competition. Out of those 10 teams, 9 teams should be the first 9 teams in the State, who have played the District Level Competitions in Maharashtra and 10th team would be the team from the district, where the competition is arranged. Rule 8(b) of said Rules provides that, since the said competition is being arranged by Maharashtra State Wrestling Association in collaboration with Maharashtra Government, the amount of price i.e. Rs.50 Lacs should be given to the Arrangement committee as an aid. The High Power Committee is also constituted under the said Rules under the Chairmanship of Hon'ble Minister (Sports and Youth Welfare). As per Rule 9 of said Rules, the responsibility to take care of technical aspects such as weights of wrestlers and arranging the competitions based on their weight is of petitioner association;

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V. It ought to have been considered that, Rules 10, 11 and 12 provides for the arrangement of residence and travelling of the wrestlers from their residence to the place of wrestling competition and other aspects. The said Rules clearly shows that, the petitioner association is the body authorized to take efforts for arrangement of state level wrestling competitions in the Maharashtra State;

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VI. It ought to have been considered that, though the wrestling competitions at district level are required to be arranged by the petitioner association in collaboration with the State Government i.e. respondent authorities, keeping the petitioner in dark, the entire process has been done and without there being any authority under the law, the respondent no.5 is being replaced in place of petitioner association and schedule of competitions has been published from 8th to 12th March, 2024. The respondent authorities did not stop even there, they have not allowed a single wrestler, who has been trained by the petitioner association at various districts in the State and therefore, it is causing great injustice on the wrestlers, who have worked hard for the entire year to take part in the competitions;

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VII. It ought to have been considered that, since the wrestlers are reached at Udgir for competition and they are not allowed to take part in the competitions, they are trying to pursue the respondent authorities and therefore, the present petitioner being a vice president of petitioner association is approaching to this Hon'ble Court by way of filing this Writ Petition;

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VIII. It ought to have been considered that, so far as the petitioner association is concerned, it was dissolved by the Wrestling Federation of India and against the said order, the petitioner association had approached to the Principal Bench of this Hon'ble Court by filing Writ Petition No.12237/2022 which came to be allowed by the Hon'ble Court by an order dated 9.11.2022. Copy of an order dated 9.11.2022 passed by this Hon'ble Court at Bombay in Writ Petition No.12237/2022 is annexed herewith and marked as Exhibit "H";

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IX. It ought to have been considered that, the petitioner association has filed Writ Petition No.9607/2023 before the Hon'ble High Court, at Bombay thereby challenging the order passed by the Returning Officer whereby the petitioner's claim to nominate members to the electoral college has been rejected on 21.07.2023. The said writ petition is pending before the Hon'ble Court. Copy of the memo of Writ Petition No.9607/2023 filed at Bombay is annexed herewith and marked as Exhibit "I".

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X. It ought to have been considered that, when the Government

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Resolution and the Rules, 2012 specifically provides that, the state level wrestling competitions are to be arranged by the petitioner association in collaboration with the State Government of Maharashtra, the respondent authorities ought not to have kept the petitioner in dark and ought not to have arranged the competitions;

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As pointed out by the learned Govt. Pleader, the constitution of the Petitioner which is registered under the Public Trusts Act, is silent on who would file cases on behalf of the Petitioner and defend it in cases. Nevertheless, we find from Clause 18(17), that the Secretary is the Chief Executive Officer of the Association. In Clause 18(10), it is mentioned that the Petitioner’s entire business would be looked after by the Secretary. In Clause 18(19), the Secretary has to record the entire proceedings of the Petitioner Trust.

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There is no material placed before us, indicating that a special meeting of the Trust or the Governing Council was convened, with proper notice to all the members, for passing a resolution that neither the President nor the Secretary, but, the Vice President would file this Petition. There is no resolution placed on record in the Petition.

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On this ground, the Petition must fail.

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Nevertheless, ignoring the above ground, we have considered the submissions of the learned Advocate for the Petitioner. The Petition is completely silent about the fact that the Petitioner’s affiliation to the Wrestling Federation of India, has been withdrawn vide the order dated 03.04.2023, passed by the Disciplinary Committee of the Wrestling Federation of India. A detailed order has been passed indicating the reasons for de-affiliating the Petitioner. We are informed that the Petitioner has preferred Writ Petition No.9607/2023 challenging the said order of de-affiliation. By order dated 09.08.2023, this Court (Coram : N.R.Borkar, J.) did not grant interim relief considering the objections raised by the Respondents as regards the maintainability of the Petition on the ground of territorial jurisdiction and availability of a remedy of appeal.

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Be that as it may, the fact situation as it stands today is that the Petitioner is de-affiliated by the Wrestling Federation of India.

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The learned Advocate for the Petitioner has contended that

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there are several wrestlers who have been trained by the Petitioner at it’s facility. They are not at fault and they may be permitted to participate in the tournament.

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The learned Govt.Pleader draws our attention to a GR dated 29.09.2024, vide which, the ‘Swargawasi Khashaba Jadhav Trophy Wrestling Competition’ has been arranged from 07.03.2024 to 11.03.2024.

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It is not palatable that the Petitioner did not know that it has been de-affiliated when the said GR of the competition was issued. The Petitioner’s Writ Petition has been pending before the Principal Seat since long. So also, it would be a too farfetched argument for the Petitioner to contend that though it is de-affiliated, the wrestlers trained at it’s facility should be permitted to participate in the tournament. The GR dated 03.11.2012, by which the Rules applicable for conducting the said tournament were introduced, does not indicate either a wild card entry to a team or an individual or an open wrestling competition, meaning any individual can fill in a form and participate in the competition.

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In fact, clause 3 of the Rules, prescribes as under :

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“नि�यम-३ :- स्प቗ኔ�चेस्वरुपवनि�कष : (अ) यास्प቗ኔ�मध्येमहारा्ቖ्र राज्यकुस्तीगीर परिरषदेमा्ቛ�तदरवष आयोजि$तकरण्यातयेणा-यावरिर्቗ गट (जि)नि�अर) राज्यअिሞ$क्यपद स्प቗ኔ�मध्ये (अधि቗ኔवेश�ात) गुणा�ु्ቅमे्ቚ थम९स्था�ावरअ)लेलेजि$ल्हातालीम)ंघाचे९ )ंघवज्याजि$ल ् ामध्ये)दरस्प቗ኔ�चेआयो$�करण्यातयेणारआहेत्याजि$ल ् ाचाएक ाधितनि�቗ኔीक)ंघअ)ेएकूण१०)ंघ्ቚ त्येकी्ቛ ीस्टाइल, ीकोरोम�वमनिहलाया गटातस्प቗ኔ�त)हभागीहोण्या)ाठीपा्ቔ राहतील,

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(ब) आयो$कजि$ल ् ाचा)ंघ$र्ቚ थम९्ቅ मांकातअ)ेलतरराज्यअिሞ$क्यपद स्प቗ኔ�म቗ኔीलगुणा�ु्ቅमे१०व्या्ቅ मांकाचा)ंघस्प቗ኔ�त)हभागीहोण्या) पा्ቔ राहील, (क) त्येक)ंघातआंतररा्ቖ्रीयकुस्तीमहा)ंघा�ेनि�धिEतकेलेल्याव$�गटा�ु)ार ् ी स्टाइल-७, ीकोरोम�-७, मनिहला-७, व्यवस्थापक-३वमाग�दश�क-३अशाएकूण२७ $णांचा)मावेशराहील.”

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As such, even if the said argument of the learned Advocate for the Petitioner is to be considered, the Rules do not prescribe an open entry or a wild card entry for any individual person or a team to fill in a form and compete in the Wrestlers’ Tournament.

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The learned Government Pleader has further canvassed

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that the participants who qualified through their respective Talims’ rkyhe assembled at Udgir on 08.03.2024. Draw of lots is already completed. The competition commenced on 09.03.2024 at 5.00 p.m. The entire exercise of medical examination and measuring the weights of the competitors, was completed between 11.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon. In fact, in 9 categories the competition is over and the prize distribution has already taken place at 9.00 p.m. on 09.03.2024. 12 different weightwise categories are competing from today 11.00 a.m. and the prize distribution of the same is scheduled at 9.00 p.m. today. The remaining categories will compete from 11.00 a.m. tomorrow and the prize distribution would at 9.00 p.m. tomorrow.

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15. Considering the above, this Petition is dismissed.

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( R.M.JOSHI, J. ) ( RAVINDRA V. GHUGE, J.)

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khs/Mar.2024/7551

Maharashtra State Wrestling Association Pune through Vice President Dayanand Ramchandra Bhakt v. the State of Maharashtra

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Maharashtra State Wrestling Association Pune through Vice President Dayanand Ramchandra Bhakt v. the State of Maharashtra

Case brief

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