Delhi High Court directs AITA to expedite Constitutional amendments and election

The Delhi High Court directed the interim Executive Committee of the All India Tennis Association (AITA) to expedite the process of amending its Constitution and bringing it in line with the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 and National Sports Governance Rules, 2026.

The Court said that a fresh election under the amended Constitution will have to be held on or before September 30, 2026.

The nudge was part of the interim order passed on June 18 in an appeal filed by the AITA, and players Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja, against the judgment delivered in late April, which removed the stay on the results of the AITA election held in September 2024 and appointed Justice (Retd.) Gita Mittal as the AITA administrator.

New power centre

The AITA contended that the original judgment, which arose out of a petition filed by Devvarman and Raja, did not find any illegality in the elections, and the appointment of an administrator in such a scenario was impermissible and had created a “parallel structure”.

The AITA also stated that the tennis’ world governing body – the International Tennis Federation (ITF) – may construe this as “third-party interference” and derecognise it. The remuneration of ₹10 lakh per month for the administrator was termed “excessive, arbitrary and unaffordable”.

Devvarman and Raja, while welcoming the appointment of the administrator, had objected on the grounds that the 2024 election was not held according to the law of the land then – the National Sports Code, 2011 – and the officials thus elected cannot be part of the interim management.

ITF query

The Union Sports Ministry told the Court that it does not support the appointment of the administrator and submitted that it had indeed received a letter on May 18 from the ITF seeking clarification.

The Ministry, however, stated that ITF recognised the temporary nature of the proceedings and that the world body would only act if the timelines in the original judgment were not adhered to.

Race against time

The Court has now asked the AITA to examine the draft amendments already proposed by the administrator and submit its suggestions and objections by June 25. The administrator, after hearing the AITA, should finalise the amendments by July 15.

An Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the AITA should be convened by July 31 to ratify these amendments, and the whole process ought to culminate in an election by the end of September.

Interestingly, the Court clarified that state associations affiliated to the AITA can vote in the EGM and in the new AITA election “irrespective of whether they are compliant with the Sports Act and the Sports Governance Rules at the time of voting”. The state bodies are required to comply with the new rules on or before December 31.

The Court further said that any action at the EGM will be subject to the final outcome of the present case, and this would allay the concerns of Devvarman and Raja regarding the AITA not adopting the amendments proposed by the administrator.