The Kerala High Court has clarified that its earlier order suspending the recognition of Kerala Hockey will not prevent the State association from continuing to select players for national events through a technical committee constituted by the Kerala State Sports Council. The Court held that while the selection and forwarding of players’ names must be carried out by the technical committee, it shall be done under the banner of Kerala Hockey, since it continues to be the only affiliated State unit of Hockey India.
A Division Bench of Justice Sathish Ninan and Justice P. Krishna Kumar passed the clarification while disposing of review petitions filed by Hockey India and Kerala Hockey against the Court’s earlier judgment. Hockey India had argued that the previous judgment created practical difficulties because player nominations to the national federation could ordinarily be made only through an affiliated State body. Accepting the concern, the Court modified its earlier directions to ensure that the technical committee would forward the selected names in the name of Kerala Hockey.
The Court also dealt with Kerala Hockey’s grievance regarding an observation in the earlier judgment that its disaffiliation by Hockey India was on account of financial irregularities. Kerala Hockey contended that its affiliation had actually been terminated for failure to submit annual returns on time and that the observation could prejudice it in other proceedings.
While noting that the materials placed before it, including legislative records and Hockey India documents, referred to allegations concerning financial irregularities and non-submission of financial documents, the Bench clarified that its earlier reference to financial irregularity was made only for deciding the writ appeals. The Court made it clear that Kerala Hockey remains free to establish, in appropriate proceedings, that its disaffiliation was based on other grounds. With these clarifications, both review petitions were disposed of.
