All India Tennis Association adopts new constitutional changes
Voting rights and athlete representation dominate a crucial constitutional reform meeting.
Indian tennis had its most consequential Sunday in years on July 26 as the All India Tennis Association (AITA) held an extraordinary general meeting that had been building toward confrontation for weeks.
The agenda was simple: to align AITA’s decades-old constitution with the new National Sports Governance Act.
However, the room itself was anything but simple, with the federation’s Executive Committee and court-appointed administrator Justice (retd.) Gita Mittal arrived with two very different visions of what reforms should actually look like.
This meeting was the product of a long-running legal tussle triggered by challenges to AITA’s September 2024 elections, which eventually led the Delhi High Court to install Justice Mittal as administrator earlier this year.
In June, a division bench reiterated that the final authority to decide on any constitutional amendment rests with the Federation’s General Body, and not solely with the court or the administrator. Despite this, it still ordered that every proposed amendment be debated and voted on clause by clause at this EGM.
Justice Mittal pushed to cut each state association’s voting strength from two to one while expanding the number of seats reserved for Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit, a move meant to give former players a louder voice in decisions that affect their sport.
AITA’s Executive Committee resisted this, arguing that state bodies represent millions of grassroots stakeholders and shouldn’t be diluted.
There was also disagreement between the two sides regarding whether associate members should be granted voting rights and how many seats the SOM should hold on the executive committee.
Elections for the new executive committee are to be held by September 30 under the constitution resulting from this process. Consequently, the outcome will effectively determine who holds the reins of Indian tennis in the coming years and the extent of the players’ role in steering the sport.
The International Tennis Federation has also been watching closely, having flagged concerns that delays here could eventually affect AITA’s standing internationally. For a sport still chasing its next Grand Slam breakthrough, the paperwork matters more than it looks.
Why was the AITA Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) called?
The meeting was convened to amend and align AITA’s decades-old constitution with the mandates of the new National Sports Governance Act.
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Aniruddh Seshadri Iyer is a passionate sports journalist at Khel Now, specializing in tennis and Olympic sports. An engineer by training, he found his storytelling passion through iconic Grand Slam and Olympic moments. Known for sharp analysis and insightful coverage, he draws inspiration from Novak Djokovic’s resilience. Outside journalism, he enjoys reading, traveling, and playing the guitar.