Cue Sera Sera: Billiards Federation of India to seek sports ministry's guidance after HC order

CHENNAI: A day after the Karnataka High Court upheld the order of the District Registrar of Societies, Bengaluru wherein the Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BSFI) was asked to stop all election proceedings and conduct fresh elections, the cue sports governing body of the country went ahead with its annual general meeting (AGM) on Saturday.

Apart from carrying out the usual business during the AGM in Bengaluru, it was also decided in the meeting that the federation will write a letter to the sports ministry apprising it of the court order and seeking suggestions on the way forward. 

"The routine business was carried out during the AGM. We have also decided to write a letter to the sports ministry informing it about the court order and seek its guidance. We will inform the ministry that we were supposed to announce the newly elected office-bearers, but now it has not been done in the wake of the court order," Sunil Bajaj, BSFI's acting secretary, told The New Indian Express.

BSFI was among 14 national sports federations, who were directed by the sports ministry to conduct their elections by December 31. However, it looks unlikely that the body will now be able to hold the elections before the above-mentioned deadline.  

It was Arvind Savur, ace cueist Pankaj Advani's coach and president of the Karnataka State Billiards Association (KSBA), who had requested the registrar to cancel the elections raising several objections in his application. BSFI challenged the registrar's order in the High Court.

The agenda of the meeting included confirmation of the minutes of the AGM and extra ordinary general meeting held on March 23, 2019 and March 8, 2020 respectively. Annual report and annual audited accounts for the year 2018-19 and 2019-20 were also adopted during the meeting.

Pune-based businessman Rajan Khinvasara was supposed to assume the office of the president replacing incumbent MC Uthappa. Besides him, all three existing vice-presidents (Vijay Goel from Delhi, Soumini Srinivas of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal's Pradip Kumar Saraogi), too, were expected to continue in their posts. 

Sunil Morajkar from Goa was supposed to be the new entrant as vice-president, with HR Rathan Kumar continuing in his role as treasurer.