Warring factions in litigation-marred AITA spar over Team Manager for Davis Cup

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) As the results of last year's AITA elections stay unannounced, the rival factions in the national tennis federation have picked separate team managers for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Switzerland, leading to an ego tussle between the members.

AITA had conducted its elections on September 28, 2024 but the results were submitted before the Delhi High Court in a sealed envelop due to a petition filed by former players Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja.

The players alleged that the Sports Code (2011) was not followed.

Since then, the old Executive Committee has been managing the affairs of the sports body but a fresh controversy erupted when Anil Dhupar was removed as Secretary General by the EC on June 27 this year and Sunder Iyer was appointed interim secretary.

Dhupar has challenged his removal in the court which will next hear the matter on September 10. The ministry has refused to interfere in the internal matter of the AITA.

Now that the National Sports Governance Act 2025 has come into force, the matter should reach a conclusion soon.

Iyer informed the EC members on August 9 that Tripura association secretary Sujit Roy will travel to Switzerland as manager with the Indian Davis Cup team for the tie to be played in Biel on September 12 and 13.

What followed the announcement was an email exchange among the EC members who debated the appointment.

Dhupar, who has challenged the legality of the EC meeting that removed him as secretary on June 27 in Ahmedabad, asserted that it has been a longstanding tradition for the secretary general to travel with the team as manager and AITA President Anil Jain has approved and sanctioned his name.

Bengal Tennis Association (BTA) President Hironmoy Chatterjee mentioned that it's the Executive Committee which has the power to nominate the manager and Dhupar, in the past, had travelled as manager only after the EC approved the same.

Chatterjee advised all the members to ignore the email sent by Dhupar and All Assam Tennis Association (AATA) President Raktim Saikia endorsed his view. AITA Vice President Navneet Sehgal though advised the members to respect the tradition and not get into "my man his man" concept.

Another AITA Vice President Chintan Parikh said Dhupar has not received any favourable decision from the court so he should not be appointed as manager by the President without consulting the EC.

He further stressed that a secretary general becoming the manager of Davis Cup team was "demoting" the position.

"The President, Hon. Secretary and their internal kitchen cabinet consisting of 3-4 members, have decided to undermine the EC members totally and run AITA with total autocracy like a family shop. They should know their days are numbered, and their actions will go in the history of AITA as shameful," Parikh wrote.

Parikh argued that all travel expenses need to be approved by the EC and If Dhupar decides to travel as manager without an explicit consent of EC, AITA will not pay his expenses, unless approved by EC.

JAIN REMINDS ALL ABOUT PRESIDENT'S POWERS =============================== AITA President Anil Jain, against whom a no confidence motion was proposed before being withdrawn last year, argued that Parikh's mail disregards the authority of the President as envisaged by the AITA constitution.

Jain referred to clause 8(a) of the Constitution to assert that President's decision on the day to day affairs being administered and executed by the other office bearers, senior Vice President, VP Sports and joint secretaries will be final.

Jain asserted that Iyer cannot be considered Secretary General of AITA without being elected by the Central Council and that to instal him in the position was violative of the AITA constitution especially since the decision to appoint him was taken in an EC meeting where the President had not presided as mandated by the AITA constitution.

"The President has been conferred with power of superintendence over all office bearers, members of EC and sub-committees. AITA constitution further empowers the President to take the final decision on all day-to-day affairs administered by the office bearers including Vice President (Sports)," Jain wrote.

"Accordingly, all decisions taken by Vice President (Sports) in terms of Clause 8(d) of AITA constitution are subject to final approval of the President and cannot be considered as absolute." 'JAIN WAS NEVER ELIGIBLE FOR PRESIDENT'S POST' ================================= Chatterjee, who holds the influential post of VP Sports, questioned the legality of Jain's position as President, saying that Jain himself has violated the AITA Constitution.

"Jain was never part of the UP tennis association executive committee. The UPTA nominated him wrongly and he became its President. It is violation of the constitution which demands that a member to be eligible to contest elections of national federation, has to be part of state association EC," he said.

Asked why this issue is being raised now when his first four-year term is over, Chatterjee said, "We were not aware at that time. We were under the impression that he is a part of the UPTA EC but he is an outsider, and this is unacceptable." It has also been learnt that AITA had nominated Anand Dubey as one of support staff members to travel with the team but his name was removed after submitting the list to the Sports Ministry. PTI AT AT PDS PDS