Playing in ‘unsanctioned’ hockey tournaments does not attract automatic ineligibility from domestic championships: Karnataka High Court
The High Court of Karnataka has ruled that playing in an “unsanctioned” hockey tournament attracts automatic ineligibility from participating in only international hockey tournaments and
The High Court of Karnataka has ruled that playing in an “unsanctioned” hockey tournament attracts automatic ineligibility from participating in only international hockey tournaments and does not result in automatic ineligibility from participating in domestic — district, State, and national — level hockey tournaments as per the Hockey India regulations. The conduct of a disciplinary enquiry through the Disputes and Grievance Redressal Committee as per the regulations is mandatory prior to taking any action against allowing participation in domestic tournaments, the court said, while interpreting Hockey India’s 2019 regulations relating to sanctioned and unsanctioned events.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order recently while partly allowing the petitions filed by seven senior hockey players, who were barred from participating in the ongoing 10th Karnataka Hockey League Championship for allegedly participating in an “unsanctioned” hockey tournament organised by the Karnataka State Hockey Association. Nithin Thimmaiah, Aiyappa M.B., Mohammed Naeemuddin, Bopaiah K.J., Changappa P.S., Appachu S.K., and Pradeep Maria Prakash G. are permanent employees of the Accounts and Audit General Office in Bengaluru. While Nithin Thimmaiah and Aiyappa have represented India in international tournaments, other petitioners represented Karnataka at various State and national-level competitions.
While quashing the June 18, 2026, communication of Hockey Karnataka, which had barred them from participating in the Karnataka League, the court permitted them to participate in the tournament while giving liberty to Hockey Karnataka to initiate disciplinary proceedings against them permissible under the relevant rules and regulations. Interpreting Clause B (1.2.1) of the 2019 regulations, which provides that an athlete or individual found to have participated in an “unsanctioned” event “is automatically ineligible for 12 months to participate in any capacity in any International event,” the court said the automatic disqualification prescribed by the regulations applies exclusively to international events, while disciplinary action for domestic tournaments must follow a proper adjudicatory process as per Clause B (1.2.2) of the regulations.
The court rejected the arguments of Hockey India and Hockey Karnataka that the procedure under Clause B (1.2.2) is an “empty formality” while observing that “the structured procedure is not an empty formality as the procedure constitutes the very foundation of the disciplinary mechanism envisaged under the regulations.”
The BriefWire