New Delhi [India], June 8 (ANI): The Supreme Court’s vacation bench on Tuesday reinstated Bharat Singh Chauhan as the Secretary of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) till August 15.
The order passed by the two-judge division bench, headed by Justice Shah and Justice Ghosh, observed the importance of Chauhan, who is the Event Director of the 44th Chess Olympiad, a prestigious global event which will witness huge participation of 188 countries, stating he needs to have all functional authorities to execute the prestigious event slated to start from July 28.
Sanjay Chadha, the counsel for AICF, said in the Court, “Since it is holiday time this was a vacation bench of the Supreme Court that listened to his petition and ordered in favour of Bharat Singh Chauhan. The Court also ruled that he should be reinstated immediately and should not be disturbed till August 15 as the AICF Secretary.”
Recently, the Delhi High Court, based on an LPA, had removed Bharat Singh Chauhan from the post of AICF Secretary, following which Chauhan had appealed to the Supreme Court against the order which had divested him of his powers.
In his appeal, Chauhan claimed that he was not given an opportunity to file his version in the case and that the Delhi High Court had issued the order based on one side’s version.
He had also appealed in his plea to the Court that even AICF and the Government of India too were not given a proper opportunity to present their versions.
The Supreme Court took notice of the same and asked all the parties to file their replies within four weeks to the High Court and after which a decision would be taken on this matter by the High Court.
Maninder Singh had represented Chauhan in the Court while Manish had argued the case for Ravindra Dongre. Manish argued vehemently against this decision but his arguments were not appreciated by the Court.
“It is a huge relief that the Supreme Court took cognizance of our appeal and now we can focus on the smooth and successful conduct of the Olympiad in India without any distractions,” said Chauhan. (ANI)