Shimla, March 20 In a major reprieve to former Union Sports Minister and current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday allowed him to file his nomination for the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) elections.
Justice Ajay Mohan Goel directed the BFI to extend the last date of nomination to enable Thakur to file his nomination and permit him to represent the Himachal Pradesh Boxing Association (HPBA) in the BFI's annual general meeting and fully participate in it "including but not limited to the contest for any post" for the BFI.
The election process will remain subject to the final outcome of the petition moved by HPBA against the rejection of Thakur's nomination by the BFI President Ajay Singh.
"Accordingly, as an ad-interim measure, this court stays the operation of notice, dated March 7, 2025, as well as the rejection of nomination of one of the two nominated members by petitioner number 1, namely, Anurag Singh Thakur and directs respondent number 3 -- Boxing Federation of India (BFI) to treat the nomination of Anurag Singh Thakur along with the nomination of Rajesh Bhandari to be a valid nomination for the Electoral College by petitioner number 1 and proceed with the election process in accordance with the rules and regulations of respondent number 3," the order said.
Hearing a petition challenging a notice that rejected the nomination of Thakur for participation in the BFI elections, Justice Goel observed, "the BFI President is not the general council of the sports body and cannot unilaterally issue any notice on interpretation or implementation of the BFI regulations."
It said the rules and regulations of the BFI do not mention that only duly elected members of the state units affiliated with the BFI can be nominated to the electoral college.
"Therefore, this court has no hesitation in holding that prima facie it is evident that notice, dated March 7, 2025, (Annexure P-2) has been issued by respondent number 2 without any authority and power under the rules and regulations of respondent number 3, which supplants the provisions of the rule and regulations and does violence with them," Justice Goel observed.
--IANS
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