IOA Presidency Fued: Anil Khanna seeks intervention from Court

The newly appointed president has filed a contempt petition against AFI head Adille Sumariwalla.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) senior vice president Anil Khanna files contempt of court order against Athletics Federation of India (AFI) boss Adille Sumariwalla. The two have been in a tussle with each other over the presidency of the National Olympic Committee (NOC).

For the uninitiated, the former president of the IOA, Narinder Dhruv Batra, stopped holding the office after the Delhi High Court scrapped his post of 'Life Member' of Hockey India. The veteran sports administrator also had to give up the presidency of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and his International Olympic Committee (IOC) membership.

The High Court also appointed the senior vice president of IOA, Anil Khanna, as the acting president through a ruling. The court order dated June 24 allowed the senior vice president to take over the responsibilities from Narinder Batra.

Anil Khanna's petition

However, the AFI head Adille Sumariwalla claims to have the backing of 18 of the 31 NOC executive council (EC) members. With the help of those EC members, Sumariwalla believes he is the rightful president of the committee. This move has forced the High Court-appointed president Anil Khanna to seek intervention from the judicial body.

Khanna has filed a petition in the court through his lawyers, Ruchir Mishra and Hemant Phalphar. The petition reads -

"It's humble submission of the petitioner that contemptuous actions of the respondents not only undermine the authority and majesty of this Hon'ble Court and cause interference in the administration of justice, but the said contemptuous actions have been designed to frustrate 36th National Games (sic), which, if not restrained, shall malign the institution and the country."

Khanna believes Adille Sumariwalla claiming to be the rightful president is contempt of the court order. The Delhi High Court-appointed president also sees the actions of the AFI boss as an attempt to 'frustrate' the upcoming 36th National Games.