Kerala Hockey To Continue Player Selection Through Technical Committee Despite Suspension: Kerala High Court Clarifies

A Division Bench comprising Justice Sathish Ninan and Justice P. Krishna Kumar issued the clarification while disposing of review petitions filed by Hockey India and Kerala Hockey against the court's earlier judgment in writ appeals concerning the governance of hockey in the State.

Previously, while disposing of a writ appeal the High Court had suspended the recognition of Kerala Hockey due to a pending proceeding under Section 31 A(2) of the Kerala Sports Act. The Court had also directed the Sports Council to constitute a technical committee to cater to the needs of the sports persons.

In the review petition, Hockey India had sought clarification, contending that the earlier judgment created practical difficulties because player nominations to national competitions could ordinarily be forwarded only through an affiliated State unit. It argued that accepting recommendations directly from a technical committee would be inconsistent with the National Sports Development Code, which envisages affiliated State associations acting as intermediaries.

The Court thus clarified that while Kerala Hockey's recognition remains suspended, the suspension would not affect its right to forward names to Hockey India. However, the selection process must be undertaken exclusively by the technical committee constituted pursuant to the earlier judgment. The committee's recommendations are to be forwarded under the banner of Kerala Hockey, since it continues to be the only State body affiliated to Hockey India.

“We clarify that, the suspension of recognition of Kerala Hockey as ordered in paragraph 28 of the impugned judgment shall not affect its right to select persons and send the names to Hockey India, but such selection and forwarding of names shall be done only by the technical committee as ordered in the judgment. The selection and forwarding of names by the technical committee shall be under the banner of Kerala Hockey. Such direction is issued having due regard to the fact that the Kerala Hockey still remains as an affiliated body of Hockey India and that there is no other affiliated body in the State, in the sport.” the Court said.

The second review petition, filed by Kerala Hockey, challenged an observation in the earlier judgment stating that Hockey India had withdrawn its affiliation on the ground of financial irregularities. Kerala Hockey argued that its disaffiliation was actually based on the alleged failure to submit annual returns in time and that the reference to financial irregularities could prejudice it in other pending proceedings.

The High Court examined the records relied upon in the writ proceedings, including legislative materials and Hockey India's minutes, which referred to alleged irregularities concerning financial documents, grants, balance sheets and loan transactions. The Court noted that the earlier writ appeals had been argued on the premise that the dispute involved the applicability of Section 31A(3) of the Sports Act, which deals with withdrawal of affiliation on grounds of financial irregularity, and that no contention had then been raised disputing financial irregularity as the basis for disaffiliation.

The Court clarified that its earlier reference to "financial irregularity" as the ground for Hockey Kerala's disaffiliation should be treated as an observation made solely for deciding the writ appeals. The Court expressly left it open to Kerala Hockey to establish, in appropriate proceedings, that its disaffiliation was based on other grounds.

With these observations, the review petitions were disposed of.

Case Title: The Kerala Hockey v Rajeev P.J and Ors and connected cases

Case No: RP 527/ 2026 and connected case

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 394

Counsel for Review Petitioner: Dr. K.P. Satheesan (Sr.), Joseph Kodianthara (Sr.), P. Mohandas. K. Sudhinkumar, Sabu Pullan, R. Bhaskara Krishnan, Bharath Mohan, Raghul Sudheesh, J. Lakshmi, Ambily T. Venu, Rachel Mary Jacob, Athulya Vaishnavi, Kallyani Menon,

Counsel for Respondents: Anoop V. Mair (State Attorney), R. Ranjanie, Thomas Abraham, Asha Rani S.R, K. Anand, Rishab S., Hare Krishna, Merciamma Mathew, Aswin P. John, R. Ananthapadmanaban, Paul Baby, Swathy A.P, Fousiya R, Renjith Raghu, Mathews Raju, R.K, Jayalakshmi, Girija K Gopal, Santhan V. Nair, K. N. Vigy, Aiswarya Ajayaghosh, Riya Kochumman, Arathy A.R, Bakkitha P.M, Dijil P. S, P. Mohandas