In an intra-court appeal filed before the Delhi High Court against a judgment dated 18-02-2026 by a Single Judge, whereby Uttar Pradesh Kho Kho Association’s (UPKKA) prayer for recognition of the elections of its Executive Committee held on 27-10-2021 was rejected, a Division Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia did not find any infirmity with the impugned judgment and dismissed the appeal.
UPKKA was a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, and was engaged in the promotion and development of Kho Kho in Uttar Pradesh. UPKKA alleged that it was one of the founding members of the Kho Kho Federation of India (Federation) and continued to function as the affiliated association for Uttar Pradesh until January 2020 when it was de-affiliated by the Federation by an office order dated 30-01-2020. UPKKA alleged that the said action was taken after a communication dated 19-12-2019 issued by its former President, stating that UPKKA had been dissolved due to the then General Secretary’s failure to maintain and furnish documents sought by the Federation.
By the office order, the Federation constituted an Interim Committee to manage UPKKA’s affairs. Thereafter, office bearers of Kho Kho Associations from Bijnor and Moradabad, both affiliated with UPKKA, instituted a petition challenging the validity of the Federation’s officer order. This was disposed of after the parties agreed to hold fresh elections. It was also observed that since the parties were not ad idem regarding the electoral college, the Returning Officer, a former Judge of the Allahabad High Court, would finalise the same.
The Returning Officer proceeded on the premise that the elections were to be conducted as per the Model Election Guidelines, and not under the National Sports Development Code, 2011 (Sports Code) on the understanding that the Sports Code was inapplicable to election of State Associations. Reliance was placed on an order purported to have been passed by the Orissa High Court. The Federation filed an application contending that no such order was passed and that the Returning Officer had recorded serious observations based on a non-existent order, but was later dismissed as withdrawn.
After declaration of election results on 27-10-2021, UPKKA addressed a communication dated 03-11-2021 to the Federation seeking recognition of its newly elected Executive Committee (EC), followed by several representations seeking re-affiliation of UPKKA with the Federation. A petition filed by UPKKA for the same was disposed of directing the Federation to consider the re-affiliation within four weeks of receipt of the documents required. After asserting that the required documents had been furnished, UPKKA instituted a writ petition which was disposed of, directing the Federation to complete the exercise within six weeks.
Subsequently, the Federation constituted the Affiliation and Election Review Committee (AERC) to examine UPKKA’s application. AERC informed UPKKA that it would be given an opportunity to furnish the documents and was intimated about a hearing scheduled on 05-12-2022. UPKKA reiterated that all documents had already been furnished and requested for recognition to be accorded to the Executive Committee. AERC submitted its report recommending rejection of UPKKA’s application after which the Federation rejected the same. Aggrieved, UPKKA instituted the writ petition, which was dismissed.
The Court noted that the impugned judgment relied not only on Rahul Mehra v. Union of India & Ors. (W.P.(C) 195/2010), but also upon K.P. Rao v. Union of India & Ors. (W.P.(C) 8915/2019) wherein it was reiterated that the Sports Code must be made applicable to every constituent of every National Sports Federation and that only its players would have an opportunity to participate in district, state, and national level events as well as an opportunity to represent India.
The Court held that the Sports Code was applicable to every constituent of every National Sports Federation, including the State Federations and clarified that no issue of retrospective application of the said decisions arose. It was stated that the impugned judgment had rightly observed that the election of UPKKA’s Chairman, President, Secretary, Treasurer, Vice-President, and Member of its Executive Committee could potentially be in contravention of the Sports Code. The Court however said that the Returning Officer was precluded from examining this as he had proceeded on the basis of a non-existent order.
Further, the Court refused to accept UPKKA’s contention that since the Federation did not institute any proceedings to challenge the election or the order of the Returning Officer, it was barred from assailing the same in subsequent proceedings. The Court took note of UPKKA’s contentions regarding unlawful disaffiliation by the Federation, constitution of a parallel body named ‘UP Amateur Kho Kho Association’ whose membership overlapped with that of the Interim Committee appointed by the Federation, as well as the conclusions by the AERC.
It was stated that the said issues required an elaborate evidentiary enquiry that could not be undertaken under writ jurisdiction and granted liberty to UPKKA for availing appropriate legal remedies. Thus, the Court did not find any infirmity in the impugned judgment and dismissed the appeal.