HC constitutes a panel of 3 members to investigate the allegation of match-fixing by Manika Batra | More sports news

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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has formed a three-member panel chaired by former Supreme Court Justice Vikramjit Sen to examine table tennis player Manika Batra’s allegation of an attempted rigging of match by the national coach. Another former Supreme Court justice, Justice AK Sikri and Arjuna Awardee and athlete Padma Shri Winner, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, will also be on the committee, Justice Rekha Palli said, while addressing Batra’s petition against the Indian Table Tennis Federation (TTFI). Batra, who was excluded from India’s contingent for the Asian table tennis championships, moved the pitch earlier this year, alleging that national coach Soumyadeep Roy “put pressure” on her to ” throws an Olympic qualifying match in favor of one of its trainees. She also claimed that TTFI conducts its selection processes in a non-transparent manner and targets certain people like her. In view of the “serious nature of the allegations” formulated by the applicant, the judge asked the committee to conduct the investigation as quickly as possible and to submit its report preferably within four weeks. “However, since this Court had already ordered on September 23, 2021, that the allegations made by the petitioner were to be examined by an independent body other than Respondent No. 1 (TTFI), and since the Committee appointed by Respondent No. # 2 (Center) did not consider the same, it is considered appropriate to appoint a three-member committee to review the Applicant’s complaints against Respondent # 3 (National Coach) and other officials of the Respondent No. 1 in his correspondence dated August 14, 26 and September 17, 2021, ”the court said in its order issued on November 17. The court noted that the parties would cooperate with the process and said the committee would be free to decide. ‘adopt its own procedure subject to following the principles of natural justice. “Each of the three members of the committee, including the chairman, will receive a sum of Rs five lakhs each – an amount which will be payable by the Respondent No. 1 Federation, as undertaken on his behalf by his advice. The location of the investigation will be organized by Respondent Federation # 1 in consultation with the Chairman of the Committee, and related expenses, as well as secretarial services, if any, will also be borne by Respondent Federation # 1. ° 1, ”he added. In her petition, Commonwealth Games gold medalist and winner Khel Ratna sought to overturn TTFI rules requiring mandatory national camp attendance for coaches for selection in international events. The country’s top-ranked player Batra’s petition claimed that the national coach, with a clear conflict of interest, simultaneously ran a private table tennis academy and on one occasion “lobbied the petitioner so that she only loses one match. to help one of his trainees from his private academy to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games ”. The paddler later claimed that she was the target of the national federation for bringing her grievances to court and that now the international federation was also treating her as an accused. On November 16, TTFI said the sports body’s board of directors had decided to recall the cause of the show as well as all subsequent actions against the paddler and urged the court to allow him to prove that he is to sincerity. Previously, the Center had said that the federation’s rule on compulsory participation in the national camp went against the sports code and went against merit. TTFI had defended the rule and said such a mandate was also present in other sports, including weightlifting and judo. While upholding the rule on September 23, the court said that compulsory attendance at the national camp was imposed “at a time when there was a pending complaint against the national coach” and that the same “does not inspire confidence”. On November 15, the court said it wanted any player to be unnecessarily harassed and asked TTFI to give the petitioner a good opinion. In view of the report of an investigation carried out by the Center in accordance with its instructions, the court noted that no fault could be attributed to the player. He also dismantled the TTFI for “going beyond” its order for the Center to investigate its affairs, saying it “will take sup motu outrage”.

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