The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea of the Gymnastics Federation of India and asked it to approach the Delhi High Court instead for reliefs pertaining to the elections for the sports body scheduled for Thursday.

The Delhi High Court had on September 1 taken note of the submissions made by senior advocate Rahul Mehra, who had filed a PIL in 2010 seeking reforms in sports bodies, that elections to various sports associations were held in violation of its 2022 judgement.

Seeking a response from the Centre within four weeks, the high court recently made it clear that in respect of "all future elections, the respondent Union of India shall ensure strict compliance of the judgement delivered in ...dated 16.08.2022.” On August 16, 2022, the high court had passed a slew of directions including to the Centre to not grant recognition or facilities to sports bodies that do not comply with the sports code, implement structural reforms to remove mismanagement in sports associations, and to democratise these institutions.

Aggrieved by the order of the apex court, Gymnastics Federation of India (GFI) said it was passed without hearing the sports body and came just a day before the elections that are scheduled for Thursday.

“We are not going to entertain it at this stage,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, and asked the counsel for the GFI to approach the Delhi High Court.

The high court has been hearing the PIL filed by senior lawyer Rahul Mehra in his personal capacity. He has sought several reliefs including the implementation of the national sports code.

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