The Bombay High Court on Monday (June 15) upheld the de-affiliation of the NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar led Maharashtra State Wrestling Association (MSWA) from the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).

The WFI had on January 1, 2023 decided to de-affiliate the MSWA and replaced it with the Maharashtra Rajya Kustigir Sangh (MRKS).

The MSWA had therefore petitioned a division bench of Justice Bharati Dangre and Justice Manjusha Deshpande, which has now dismissed the appeal.

A detailed copy of the order is awaited.

MSWA had argued that the decision to de-affiliate it was taken by the Oversight Committee, not by the Executive Committee, and the same was arbitrary.

It would not be out of place to mention that before de-affiliating the MSWA, the WFI had in 2022, interfered with the elected body of the MSWA and had suspended its elected body. The said order was held to be "unreasonable, illegal and not in sporting spirit."

In his November 2022, order, Justice Sandeep Shinde had observed, "Decision of the Executive Committee of WFI was, not only in breach of principles of natural justice, but behind their back…the procedural fairness has been given complete go-by, before taking the impugned decision."

Factully, NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar had headed the MSWA committee for over 40 years, till it was dissolved by WFI on July 4, 2022. The High Court in its November 2022 order, said that the elected body of the Association shall hold the office till its tenure comes to an end and shall carry on its day-to-day functions in accordance with its Constitution.

In its petition, the MSWA had said that in a meeting held on June 30, 2022 WFI's national executive committee, headed by then BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh Brijbhushan Sharan Singh decided to dissolve MSWA's committee citing failure to conduct certain tournaments. The decision was arbitrary, MSWA contended.

Appearance:

Senior Advocates Darius Khambata and Sharan Jagtiani along with Advocates Gaurav Mehta, Sankalp Sharma, Priyank Kapadia, Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal; Briefed by Gohil Agarwal Law Chambers appeared for MSWA.

Case Title: Maharashtra Wrestling Association vs Union of India (Writ Petition 9607 of 2023)