Manika Batra v. TTFI: Delhi High Court Appoints 3-Member Committee To Probe 'Match Fixing' Allegations Against National Coach Soumyadeep Roy

The Delhi High Court has decided to constitute a 3-member committee to inquire into the allegations of match-fixing levelled by Table Tennis player Manika Batra against national coach Soumyadeep Roy. Following her non-selection for the 25th ITTF Asian Table Tennis Championships, 2021 to be held in Doha from September 28, Batra had moved the High Court against the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI). She had also accused Roy of pressurizing her to "throw away" a match in the Olympic qualifiers, with a view to help one of his private trainees. Expressing concern over the serious nature of allegations and failure of the inquiry committee appointed by Centre to probe the same, Justice Rekha Palli today remarked, "When these sportspersons bring medals, you want to celebrate them. When they are in trouble, nobody wants to stand by them." The Committee will comprise of 2 retired Judges and one member from the sports community and will probe the allegations levelled by Batra in her correspondences dated 14 August, 2021, 26 August, 2021 and 17 September, 2021. Names of Justice (Retd.) AK Sikri and Justice (Retd.) Mukul Mudgal were suggested during the hearing. The members of the Committee will however be confirmed when a copy of the detailed order is released. The Court said that the Committee so appointed shall be free to adopt its own procedure and is expected to submit an interim report within four weeks. Significantly, the Petitioner had also expressed serious reservations about functioning of the present Executive Board of TTFI and had sought for appointment of an administrator. This request has been kept in abeyance by the Court , keeping in view the fact that the World Championships is slated to commence within a week. "The request of Petitioner for appointing an administrator is being deferred and will be considered at a time when deemed necessary," the Court said. Earlier, the Court had directed the Central Government to conduct an independent enquiry into the allegations put forth by Batra and the show cause notices issued to her by the Federation. On a perusal of the central committee's report headed by the Joint Secretary of the Sports Department, the Court had opined there was no question of any misconduct on Batra's part.'No Question Of Misconduct, Give Her A Clean Chit': Delhi High Court Tells Table Tennis Federation On Manika Batra's Plea It had thereby asked the TTFI to withdraw the show cause notices issued to her. The Court had also taken a stern view of TTFI's action of approaching the International Table Tennis Federation, asking them to conduct a probe, despite the Court's directions. It had asked the national sports body to immediately give a clean chit to the player. Pursuant to an emergency meeting of TTFI's Executive Board held yesterday, it was communicated to the Court today that TTFI will forthwith withdraw the show cause notices and all consequential proceedings against Batra, and communicate the same to the International Table Tennis Federation. Further, keeping in view the manner in which the TTFI had corresponded with the International Federation on September 23, immediately after the Court directed an inquiry by the Union of India, the TFFI has now been restrained from making any further correspondence with the international body regarding Batra and her complaint, except for the direction given above. It has been made clear that in case the International Federation needs any further information in this regard, the officer bearers of TTFI will forthwith transfer the request received by them to the 3-member Committee appointed by the Court.Senior Advocate Sachin Dutta appeared for Batra. ASG Chetan Sharma and Apporv Kurup for Centre. Case Title: Manika Batra v. Table Tennis Federation of India & Ors.

Manika Batra v. TTFI: Delhi High Court Appoints 3-Member Committee To Probe 'Match Fixing' Allegations Against National Coach Soumyadeep Roy

Akshita Saxena

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