By Rahul Banerji
Returning officer for the Indian Golf Union’s long-delayed election, Justice R.K. Gauba (Retd) has convinced the organisation’s general body to hold a fresh poll, and not resume a process delayed by over two years.
Justice Gauba, who last week replaced another jurist, Justice Kailash Gambhir as the IGU’s returning officer, said at Monday’s annual general meeting that the association could not go back to a process that was stalled by a Kolkata court in 2018.
The developments were reported in a blog post on veteran sports journalist G. Rajaraman’s circleofsport.com website.
Justice Gauba made the point that the IGU was not in a time machine that it could go back to an election that was halted by a court order two years ago, Rajaraman reported.
“We are not in a time machine to go back and let that body take over, complete the task and come back to the present time,” the retired judge said.
‘Look ahead’
“We have to be realistic and look ahead rather than look back,” he is said to have responded to a suggestion that there was no harm in the process being continued.
“We can keep debating ad nauseam but that will lead us nowhere,” he told the IGU.
The fresh election will now be held on December 27, ahead of the December 31 deadline set by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports for the IGU to fall in line with guidelines governing national sports federations.
Some background here.
In December of 2018, a district court in Kolkata stayed the IGU’s election on the grounds a member association had not received notice of the AGM. The same judge then ruled the AGM itself as illegal.
Fast forward to February of 2020 and the Calcutta High Court set aside the original orders as being two drastic and clearing the way for the IGU’s poll process to get under way.
Pandemic effect
The Covid-pandemic and subsequent lockdown thereafter delayed matters till the IGU finally held its long-awaited AGM in New Delhi on Monday, where Justice Gauba prevailed on members to accept a fresh start.
According to Rajaraman’s report, Justice Gauba said rewinding the process by calling for fresh nominations would help IGU rid of doubts about tenure of the elected body.
It would also make the upcoming election current and updated in democratic spirit and representing contemporary opinion.
“I suggest that IGU seek freshness by taking it back to the nomination process,” the reported quoted as having said.
The next step for the retired judge will be to scrutinise the electoral college and bring it in line with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011.
Women’s pro tour resumes on Dec. 1
Meanwhile, the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour, in suspended animation since March 13, is set to return for its final three events from December 1.
Gursimar Badwal was the last winner on the WPGT at the Classic Golf and Country Club and the field reassembles at Noida Golf Course in seven day’s time for the seventh leg of teh season.
Further tournaments are scheduled from December 7 to 11 at the DLF course and Classic Golf and Country Club, which will be the season ender.
Vani Kapoor heads the Order of Merit with one win in five appearances, ahead of Amandeep Drall, Saaniya Sharma, Neha Tripathi and Pranavi Urs.
Also read: Has the Indian Golf Union pushed itself into irrelevance?
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