New Delhi,(thestates.news) : The Supreme Court has allowed Bharat Singh Chauhan to remain as Secretary of the All India Chess Federation till August 15. A bench headed by Justice MR Shah said that the 44th World Chess Olympiad is to be held from July 2 to August 10. In view of this, the court has allowed Chauhan to work as the secretary of the federation.
A bench headed by Justice Najmi Waziri of the Delhi High Court had on June 2, stayed the election of Chauhan. On this, Ravindra Dongre filed a petition in the HC saying that according to the Sports Code, if the Secretary of the National Sports Federation contests for the second time, then he needs at least a two-thirds majority to win. The petition referred to the National Sports Federation’s guidelines dated September 20, 1975, in this regard.
Dongre’s petition had said that for the last 17 years, Chouhan has been a member of the Managing Committee of the All India Chess Federation. Chauhan was the treasurer of the federation from 2005 to 2011, secretary from 2011 to 2013, CEO from 2013 to 2017, and secretary from 2017 to 2021. It was said in the petition that to be elected secretary for the second consecutive term, Chouhan needed at least two-thirds of the votes. In the elections held in 2021, Chouhan got only 35 votes out of a total of 64 votes, which is less than two thirds.(HS)
