Supreme Court Stays Operation Of Delhi HC's Order Appointing Committee Of Administrators For Indian Olympic Association

Supreme Court today stayed the order of the Delhi High Court constituting a Committee of Administrators in place of the Indian Olympic Association and has directed that status quo be maintained with respect to its functioning. The Central Government supported the plea filed by the Olympic Association.

The bench comprising of Chief Justice N. V. Ramana, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice C. T. Ravikumar heard the plea where Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Central Government had submitted that, "according to the International Olympic Committee guidelines if the Indian Olympic Association is represented by a body like Committee of Administrators then India stands a 99% chance of India getting suspended as it is considered as third party interference". He had also submitted that this is a matter of "national prestige".

The Counsel appearing for the Indian Olympic Association apprised the Court that a sports event is to happen in Gujarat which would get affected. The Court was also apprised of the fact that the Committee of Administrators has not taken over yet.

The Bench, after hearing the matter, ordered that status quo be maintained and directed the matter to be listed before an appropriate bench. The matter was mentioned earlier in the morning and the Court had assured that the matter would be heard at the end of the board.

Delhi High Court had on Tuesday ordered the formation of a Committee of Administrators to take over the operation of the Indian Olympic Association. The Committee so formed would comprise of former Judge of the Supreme Court A. R. Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner Dr. S. Y. Qureshi and former Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vikas Swaroop.