No Arbitrariness: Delhi High Court Dismisses Pleas By TT Players Swastika Ghosh & Manush Shah Challenging Their Exclusion From CWG 2022

The Delhi High Court has dismissed the pleas filed by table tennis players Swastika Ghosh and Manush Shah seeking their inclusion in the list of 4 selected players for the men's and women's team for the Commonwealth Games 2022.

It was the case of the petitioners that their names were not included in the final selection list by the Selection Committee and the Committee of Administrator despite fulfilling the selection criteria as laid down by the federation.

Taking note of the fact that the Committee of Administrator had weighed different factors, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma refused to interfere in the same while in exercise of its power of judicial review.

"This court also finds complete absence of any arbitrariness or malafide in the decision arrived at by the Committee of Administrators," the Court said.

The Court further observed that courts do not have any expertise to get into the selection and finalisation of players for participation at the international level. This

"To represent a nation and to participate, perform and excel in the arena of international sports, a player must not only possess physical but great mental and emotional strength and agility. It is thus pivotal that there should be no uncertainty in the minds of the players. Such litigations may disrupt and impact the preparation and performance of the players," the Court observed.

It was submitted on behalf of the petitioners that the process of the selection was not adopted correctly and that the persons who had been included in the list or being proposed to be sent to participate in the commonwealth game were much below in the ranking as compared to the petitioners.

The petitioners also challenged the credentials of the members of the Selection Committee on the ground that some of the members were either themselves in person or their spouse were running the academy and therefore they should not entitled to be included in the selection committee.

The plea of the petitioners was that their names should be included in the names of the panel to be sent for participating in the commonwealth games.

On the other hand, it was submitted on behalf of TTFI that High Court does not have domain to enter into the selection process of the selection criteria and that the names had already been finalized and sent to the Indian Olympic Association.

The Court noted that the committee of administrators had minutely examined the claim of each of the sport person and passed a detailed order while finalising the list.

"The power of judicial review in the matters relating to sports can be exercised only if there is an allegation of bad faith. In such matters, the courts should give great credence to the decision of the expert committee and the coaches. If the courts starts interfering in the decision of such committees it would have a drastic inhibiting effect on its functioning," the Court added.

Accordingly, the pleas were dismissed.

Case Title: SWASTIKA GHOSH v. TABLE TENNIS FEDERATION OF INDIA AND ORS.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 588

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