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Newly-elected president Sanjay Singh expressed that the sports ministry did not follow “proper procedure” while suspending the wrestling national body and will challenge the government’s decision in a court. Talking to the media on Thursday, Singh further complained about the ministry not giving a democratically elected body a chance to function.
The Sports Ministry on Sunday suspended the WFI, three days after being elected. The governing body called the new WFI for flouting its constitution while taking certain decisions, including the announcement of the U-15 and U-20 National Championships.
Also Read: WATCH: Sanjay Singh's first reaction after newly-elected WFI's suspension
While speaking to PTI, Sanjay Singh said, “We have won the elections (of WFI) democratically. The returning officer was the retired chief justice of J&K High Court, there were observers from the IOA and UWW (United World Wrestling). There were 22 state units (three absent out of 25 state associations) taking part in the elections, 47 votes were polled out of which I got 40.”
“After all these, if you say we are suspended, we are not going to accept it. A democratically-elected body was not given a chance to explain its position which is against the principle of natural justice which everybody is entitled to under the Constitution of India.” Asked what is the way forward for his body, he said.
“WFI is an autonomous body and the government has not followed proper procedure. We are going to talk to the government and if it (government) does not take back the suspension, we are taking legal opinion and going to court.”
We have written to the UWW requesting to lift the ban: Sanjay Singh
Sanjay Singh also spoke about writing a letter to the United World Wrestling (UWW) requesting the lifting of the ban imposed on WFI, and he is hopeful of a favourable decision from the international parent body. He said, "We have written to the UWW requesting to lift the ban imposed on the WFI, as the elections were held democratically. Office holidays are going on (in Europe) so may take some days."
