The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) has named Rathin Roy Choudary as their ad hoc president at Sunday’s Annual General Body Meeting. He will hold that post until at least February 15th, where the Delhi High Court is expected to rule on whether or not elections held on April 11th were valid or not.
Choudary’s appointment is the latest step in an ongoing saga of the VFI that has included a suspension by the FIVB and the Indian Sports Ministry, the latter of which was lifted in July. The FIVB, the world governing body for volleyball, is said to be encouraging new elections for the group’s leadership, but domestically all signs seem to point to an attempt to first uphold the 2016 elections instead. The Indian federation is still suspended by FIVB, which prohibits its participation in international tournaments, among other things.
The conflict centers around a separatist group of the organization’s leadership that held what the VFI called at the time an “invalid core meeting.” The result was the suspension of 10 members, including CEO, executive vice-president, and treasurer.
A letter from the FIVB on August 22nd stated that:
“The FIVB emphasises that the position of the president of VFI is currently vacant as the term of Kumar [Avadesh Choudhary] has expired by his own admission in July 2017. The FIVB is also aware of the petition before the Delhi High Court seeking recognition of the elections held in 2016 for the office of president. Consequently the office of president is the only vacant position among the VFI office-bearers.
“Summarising the circumstances, all of the relevant stakeholders in India recognises the above-mentioned office- bearers under the Indian law. Consequently the FIVB recognises that the above office-bearers are the current office-bearers of VFI under Indian law.”
FIVB says that once Indian law is satisfied, the decision will be passed to its Board of Administration to consider lifting the suspension.
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