K. Murugan Etc. Etc. v. Fencing Assn. of India, Jabalpur & Ors. Etc. Etc
RANGANATH MISRA, CJ. The Olympic games are ancient in
origin. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica they commenced some
3,500 years ago and the name came from its association with the place
known as Olympia in Greece. These games were played once in every
four years and were abolished in 393 AD by the Roman Emperor
Theodosius-I. In recent times, they were revived in 1896 and have
until now been held at the turn of every four years excepting during the
first and the second world wars. The Olympic games are one of the
biggest international events and provide great opportunities to
amateur sportsmen in the different classifications.
Indian participation in the Olympic games dates back to 1900
when a single representative had joined the Olympics at Paris. Gradu
ally, such participation became more. systematic and broad-based.
While the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Union Govern
ment lcoks after development of sports within the country, the
management of the Olympic participation has been entrusted to a
society ~gistered under the Societies Registration Act (21 of 1860)
known by the name 'Indian Olympic Association' (for short 'IOA').
The Memorandum of Association of this society indicates that
the principal objects of the society, inter alia, are: (i) to develop and
promote the Olympic movement and amateur sport, (2) to promote
and encourage the physical, moral and cultural education of the youth
·of the nation for the development of character, good health and good
66-2 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1991] 1 S.C.R.
citizenship, (3) to enforce all rules and regulations of the International
A Olympic Committee (hereinafter referred to as 'IOC') and tire IOA;
( 4) to be the official organisation in complete and sole charge of all
Olympic matters in the country, (5) to educate the public of the
country as to the value of amateurism in sports; (6) to maintain the
highest ideals of amateurism and to promote interest therein, particu-
B larly in connection with the Olympic games and other games under the
patronage of the IOC as well as the IOA, (7) to have full and complete
jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the participation of India in
the Olympic games and other games under the patronage of the IOC
as well as the IOA, (8) to assist in cooperation with National Sports
Federations/Associations the selection, training and coaching of ihe
teams that will represent India in the Asian, Commonwealth, Olympic
C and other international competitions and tournaments, under the
patronage of the IOC as well as IOA and also to supervise and control
the participation of the teams in the said competitions and tourna
ments after selection, (9) to undertake with the assistance of National
Sports Federations/ Associations the financing, management, trans-
. ..,.,. ' ...
D portation, maintenance and welfare of teams from India taking part in
the Olympic games and other games under the patronage of the IOC
as well as the IOA; and (10) to timulate the interest of the people of
the country in the promotion of sports and games in the Olympic prog
ramme, and to that end the formation of State Olympic Assocation for
the development of sports and games within a State and National
E Sports Federations for games and sports in the Olympic programme.
We have quoted most of the important objectives to bring it to
the forefront that the 1.0.A. has been brought into existence to
sponsor, superv_ise, finance, regulate and control all aspects of sports
activity in relation to the Asian, Commonwealth, Olympic and inter
national competitions and tournaments under the patronage of the
IOC. While its funding is partially out of membership fee, bulk of it
comes from Government contribution.
The society has a set of rules and regulations. There are five
categories of members as described in rule 3. The management of the
G affairs of the Association is entrusted to an Executive Council defined
in rule l(v). Rule 8 provides that the Executive Council shall have (i) a
President (ii) 9 Vice-Presidents (iii) a Secretary-General (iv) 6 Joint y"
Secretaries (v) a Treasurer (vi) 7 Members elected from among
representatives of State Olympic Associations and (vii) 12 members
elected from among the representatives.of National Sports Federation/
H Associations/SSCB. Rule 8 provides the manner of elections to be held
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K. MURUGAN v. FENCING ASSN. [RANGANATH MISRA, CJ.) 663
for theR. Executive Council. The term of the Executive Council is 4 A ,
years. ule 11 provides the voting procedure. Clause (b) of that rule
requires that voting if necessary in the IOA Executive Council, IOA
Emergency Executive Council and/or at the annual general or special
general meetings of the IOA shall be by show of hand. However, if in a
particular case the procedure has to be changed, the same will be done
by a resolution of the concerned body passed by majority vote. The B
very rule provides as to the voting power of the different units composT
ingtheIOA.
Rule 12 deals with the office-bearers like the President, the Vice
President, the Secretary-General, the Joint Secretaries, the Treasurer
etc. For the resolution of the dispute before us perhaps reference to C
the other rules is not necessary .
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r The IOA was reconstituted with effect from 28th of October,
I
1984, with appellant Shri V.C. Shukla as the President. K. Murugan,
appellant in C.A. No. 848 of 1991 (arising out of SLP 1064/91) was one
of the 6 Joint Secretaries. D
In November, 1988, Shri B.S. Adityan, one of the vice-Presi
dents of the 1984 Executive Council was elected as President for a term '
of four years. On 16th of May, 1990, there was a requisition of 17
Members for a special general meeting for considering the move of a
no confidence motion against Shri Adityan and his Executive Council. E
With this started a period of confrontation between the two groups in ,
the Association. In May, 1990, the Executive Council overruled the
requisition as invalid and President Adityan called a meeting of the
General Assembly at Madras for 15th of June, 1990. For the same day
the other group summoned a meeting of the general assembly at New
Delhi. This led to Court proceeding and the Delhi High Court F
restrained the requisitionists from holding their meeting at New Delhi
and appoirited a retired Judge of the Delhi High Court as an observer
for the meeting to be held at Madras. In the convened meeting of 15th of
June, minutes of the proceedings whereof have been seriously dis
puted Shri Shukla claimed to have been elected.
A little before the meeting of the 15th of June at Madras, further
proceedings were taken in Court which have been labelled as collusive
and manipulations for obtaining an order for the manner of voting.
The warring factions lost sight of the laudable goals of the IOA and the
purpose for which the Association had been set up and put theiI entire
,. attention on winning control over the affairs of the IOA in their grip H
through litigation.
A Single Judge of the Madras High Court having decided in
favour of Shri Adityan, the matter ultimately came before a Full
Bench which by its order dated 3rd of January, 1991, remitted the
matter to the learned Single Judge and appointed Justice Natarajan, a
retired Judge of this Court, to discharge the functions of the President
of the IOA as an interim measure. This order is challenged in the
appeal by Shri Murugan and Shri V.C. Shukla by two different appeals
being Civil Appeals Nos. 852.853of1991 (arising SLPs 1599 and 1787/91).
Not content with the litigation in the Delhi and Madras High Courts,
the Fencing Association of India filed a civilsuit at Jabalpur asking for
declaration that Shri Shukla had been duly elected as President. An
application for injunction in support of Shri Shukla having been
rejected by the trial Judge an appeal had been taken before the High
Court where a learned Single Judge made a status quo order. The
other two appeals arise out of proceedings including contempt taken
therein.
Long arguments have been advanced before us by Mr. Venu
gopal for Shri Adityan and by Mr. Sibal for Shri Shukla. The main
contention of Mr. Venugopal is that under the rules the term of the
President and the Executive Council is four years and in the absence of
a clear provision for a vote of no confidence, which would curtail the
period, there could be no reduction of the period of office. It has also
been contended that the entire Executive Council could not be voted'
out of office by a motion of no confidence and, therefore, Shri Adityan
had rightly overruled the requisition. Serious challenge has been
advanced by Mr. Sibal against the proceedings taken before the
.. Madras High Court and particularly, the learned Judge making an
order changing the manner of voting from show of hands to one by
ballot in what is stated to be a collusive proceeding.
This does not appear to us to be a matter where individual rights
in terms of the rules and regulations of the Society should engage our
attention. Sports in modern times has been considered to be a matter of
great importance to the community. International sports has assumed
greater importance and has been in the focus for over a few decades.
In some of the recent Olympic games the performance of small States
has indeed been excellent and laudable while the performance of a
great country like India with world's second highest population has
been miserable. It is unfortunate that the highest body in charge of
monitoring all aspects of such sports has· got involved in group fight
leading to litigation and the objectives of the Society have been lost
sight of. The representation of India in the IOA has been in jeopardy.
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K. MURUGAN v. FENCING ASSN. [RANGANATH MISRA, CJ.] 065
'---;---- The grooming of amateurs has been thrown to the winds and the A responsibility placed on the Society has not been responded. This,
• therefore, does not appear to us to be a situation where rights to office
will have to be worked out by refeiring to the provisions of the law
relating to meetings, injunction and rights appurtenant to elective
offices. What seems to be of paramount importance is that healthy
conditions must be restored as early as possible into the working of the B
----~-- Society and a fresh election has to be held as that seems to be the only
way to get out of the malady. The entire nation is looking up to~the
results of the competitions at the international gaJ;IIes when they are
held. As we have already pointed out, IOA has great responsibilities
~ to discharge in organising and streamlining the national sport activities
.... intended for international events. The monitoring has to be a continu-
ou:s one and unless the scheme is ongoing and is made result-oriented, c
the international pedormance cannot be up to any appreciable level.
/""'-.,,/
)
The question for consideration, therefore, is not as to which of
the two factions should succeed. On the other hand, it is appropriate D that all the litigations now pending should abate. In the interest of the
appropriate functioning of the Society the litigation outside the head-
guarters of the Society should not be permitted. We accordingly direct
~-
that any litigation, if at all, should only be within the jurisdiction of the
Delhi High Court and no Court in India would entertain litigations
relating to the functioning of IOA in any aspect. A fresh executive E Council should be set up and for that purpose elections should be held
within two months hence. The general assembly should be convened to
=- meet at Calcutta on 28th of April, 1991. We appoint Mr. Justice A.O.
Koshal, a retired Judge of this Court to conduct the elections keeping
the provisions of the rules and regulations of the IOA in view. Voting
~,
shall be by secret ballot. The list of voters should be finally settled F within four weeks from now and if it is necessary to have any hearing in
the matter we authorise such hearing to be undertaken by Mr. Justice
Koshal. Until then, Mr: Justice Natarajan will continue to exercise his
powers as conferred by the order of the Madras High Court. Once the
results of the elections are announced, Mr. Justice Natarajan would
cease to be in office and the Association would take over.
rx To enable Mr. Justice Koshal to discharge the obligations cast
upon him by this decision, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports is
directed to place at his disposal a sum of Rs.25,000 (Twentyfive
thousand) within two weeks and a small group of assistants as he may
need. Payment of remuneration for the work done shall be fixed by the H Court later.
666 SUPREME COURT. REPORTS (1991] 1 S.C.R.
All the proceedings in the different High Courts abate; the suit
in the Jabalpur High Court shall stand dismissed. The contempt pro
ceedings now pending shall not be proceeded with.
In the course of arguments some criticism was advanced against
the order of the High Court providing monthly remuneration to Mr.
Justice Natarajan. We leave this aspect to be considered by Mr. Justice
Natarajan himself and do not propose to deal with it in our order.
Before we leave this matter we would like to point that the ·
Union of India should take greater interest in organising sports both
for national and international purposes. Sports have a role to play in .
building up good citizens. That aspect should be kept in view. We have
a feeling that while a lot of money is allotted for the purpose of
improvement of sports, the result has been considerably poor and
deceptive. We hope and trust that this aspect of the criticism heard
from everywhere in this country shall also be given due consideration. :
V.P.R. Appeals disposed of. :
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