Split wide open in Indian Golf Union

The Indian Golf Union has been carved into two factions with each claiming authority after holding elections on December 15 in New Delhi.

While the elections were set to take place at the India Habitat Centre (IHC), a group claiming the support of 21 state golf associations, met at the IOA (Indian Olympic Association) Bhavan and conducted their polls. The other faction went on with its elections at IHC.

“The vitiation of conditions for a free and fair conduct of the AGM, due to several acts of Mr Brijender Singh, President of IGU to interfere with the elections was cited as the reason for requests for change,” said a statement from the group conducting elections at the IOA Bhawan.

“The AGM held at IOA Bhavan adopted the election results of the IGU declared by originally appointed Returning Officer, Justice (Retd) OP Garg. Among those who were elected unopposed were Harish Shetty as President, Dhiraj Seth as Vice President, BK Repswal as Secretary and Manoj Joshi as Treasurer along with nine council members, all elected unopposed,” added the statement from the group.

Repswal highlighted the repeated attempts by Brijinder Singh to interfere with the election process after they were set in motion.

“This included appointing additional returning officers without authority and legal basis when Justice Garg had not resigned and the Justice having reiterated that he is in control of the election process. The second returning officer resigned after learning that the Justice Garg had not in fact resigned. It also included repeatedly tampering with the electoral roll of eligible State Golf Associations to create an electoral roll favourable to him, including disqualifying five states at the first stage through a false report to Justice Garg which was reversed by the Returning Officer.”

Harish Shetty highlighted that Justice Garg, the legally appointed Returning Officer had conducted the election process systematically and smoothly without allowing any disqualification attempts.

“The results are a true reflection of the wishes of the majority in the General Body of the Indian Golf Union.”

He added, “Any other so called election results declared for the Indian Golf Union has no legal sanctity since they were arising from a blatant and illegal interference with the elections process. It is pertinent to note that the NSDC (National Sports Development Code) requires two thirds membership of the SGAs to be able to qualify as the NSF (National Sports Federation) which the very electoral college list published by Mr. Singh does not have, with only 19 members out of 21, 8 of whom have declined to support and have boycotted the AGM at the (IHC).

“With 21 SGAs supporting, the natural claim to be the official NSF must rest with this body.”

It should be noted that IGU runs junior programmes and is responsible for authorising state teams to National Games.

Tags : Indian Golf Union, IGU, IOA Bhavan, India Habitat Centre, National Sports Federation