The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition filed by the Vidarbha Hockey Association seeking recognition as an associate-member of Hockey India and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
The Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Dipankar Datta observed that Hockey was an Olympic sport and under the Indian Olympic Association regulations, there could be only one association from one state.
After hearing arguments for a brief time, the top court of the country allowed the petitioner to withdraw the case.
The petition invoked writ jurisdiction of the Supreme Court seeking directions that Hockey India and IOA associate it as an Associate-Member. The Bombay High Court had earlier upheld Hockey India’s decision revoking the petitioner’s membership.
The Bench sought to know how a writ court would be able to grant relief in this regard.
The Counsel appearing for the petitioner replied that the Association was an Associate-Member in 2013. However, that membership was taken away ‘arbitrarily’ on the basis of a clause that did not apply to it. The lawyer claimed that Delhi had over 20 Associate-Members.
Perusing the material on record, the Apex Court noted that the petitioner was referring to the Cricket Association and the Kabaddi Federation, however, these were not Olympic sports. Regarding the IOA regulations, the Bench said the order in question de-registered not only the petitioner-Association but also the Mumbai Hockey Association, as there could be only one association from Maharashtra.
Noting that the High Court passed the order in June, 2024 and the SLP filed in May, 2025, the Apex Court asked the counsel about the tearing hurry to get the matter listed during the Court’s partial working days.
It observed that 70 percent matters listed on Monday during the Court’s partial working days were those, which should have been before these working days or after. The petitioners were forcing the judges to sit a whole night to read, it added.
The Counsel contended that he did not seek listing of the matter in the partial Court working days on grounds of urgency.
Pointing to a specific page in the records, the Bench questioned the petitioner whether he had countered the aspect by filing an affidavit before the High Court. When the Counsel replied in the negative, the Bench directed the petitioner to first approach the High Court for relief, instead of directly coming before the Apex Court in the first time itself.
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