No one to manage Table Tennis Federation of India’s day-to-day affairs: Court-appointed committee’s report

The Delhi High Court had appointed a three-member committee to look into the functioning of the TTFI following a petition filed by table tennis star Manika Batra alleging malpractice.

In its report, the committee said the office of the TTFI in Delhi is not only faraway but also inaccessible. Besides, the lease period of the office is over. ET Sport has reviewed the report.

The committee pointed out that the federation’s main officials don’t reside in Delhi — its secretary general is in Lucknow, the chief executive officer is in Ajmer and the official who discharges the federation’s functions is in Kerala. And there’s no one to manage the day-to-day affairs of the body, it said.

Former Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High Court, Gita Mittal, heads the committee which has senior advocate Chetan Mittal and athlete SD Mudgil as the other members.

The committee has also sought more relevant information from the federation’s staff members so that it can dig deeper into the affairs of the federation.

The information sought includes “details of the movable and immovable assets of the federation; budget of the federation; sources of revenue; budget allocation and expenditure; holdings in fixed deposit receipts and bank accounts; details of financial compliances and payments to be effected by the federation; timelines and deadlines; all matters requiring approval and intervention of the committee and complete details of impending events”.

Regarding the location of the federation’s current office, the report said that the building in the industrial complex near Nangloi in Delhi is “extremely difficult” to locate. It said the committee found it “extremely difficult and inconvenient” to visit the office.

The committee has suggested that a better office should be identified for the federation.

Taking stock of the matter, the court had on Monday appointed retired additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) SK Tandon as manager of the federation and permitted the committee to identify suitable premises for the office of the federation.

Disappointed with the way the federation was being run, the court on February 11 had ordered that the management of the sports body be taken away from its office-bearers.

The directions were passed on a petition filed by the Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Khel Ratna awardee Batra, who was left out of the Indian contingent for the Asian Table Tennis Championships. She had petitioned the court last year alleging that the national coach, Soumyadeep Roy, pressured her to “throw away” an Olympic qualifier match in favour of one of his trainees.

Based on the report of another committee constituted to look into accusations levelled by Batra, the court observed that the appointment of Roy, who continued to run an academy, as the national coach was prima facie a case of conflict of interest.