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In yet another significant ruling in the realm of Sports Governance, the Hon’ble Delhi High Court has held that clubs have no legal right to interfere in or influence the governance of equestrian sport at the national level. A Division Bench dismissed two Letters Patent Appeals (LPA) filed by the Chandigarh Horse Riders Society, a club claiming to be a member of the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) and upheld the challenges to exemptions granted to the EFI from key provisions of the National Sports Development Code, 2011.

The Court reaffirmed that governance of the sport must strictly comply with the Sports Code and held that factors such as the capital-intensive nature of equestrian sport or the availability of horses and infrastructure cannot determine the composition of the Electoral College. The Bench also rejected the claim that horses are “athletes”, noting that the Sports Code treats them as equipment.

Upholding earlier Single Bench orders, the Court sustained the appointment of a Fact Finding Committee and the stay on an Extraordinary General Meeting convened by the then-suspended Secretary-General. It further observed that the requisitions for convening the meeting appeared to be an afterthought aimed at creating an impression of compliance with statutory requirements.

Welcoming the verdict, the Rajasthan Equestrian Association, represented by Senior Counsel Mr. Rajiv Dutta, Partner at Kochhar & Co. Mr. Ashish Kothari, and assisted by our Associate Pratha Pant, expressed hope that the judgment would pave the way for early elections in accordance with the National Sports Development Code, 2011.