Pune: Questioning the “neutrality” of High Court-appointed Administrator, Justice (Retd) Gita Mittal, All India Tennis Association’s (AITA) interim president Chintan Parikh has termed her handling of the federation’s compliance process as “unacceptable”.An expert on Mittal’s panel responded by saying the interim committee wasted an opportunity to put across their views by refusing to meaningfully participate in a meeting called for the very purpose.The AITA will be holding a meeting of the interim executive committee on Saturday and an Extraordinary General Meeting on Sunday in New Delhi to discuss and ratify the amended constitution drafted by Mittal, as mandated by the Delhi HC to align it with the National Sports Act, 2026.Parikh took exception to Mittal introducing amendments which he said even the Act did not contemplate, and appointing four members from her own staff as observers while charging the association Rs. 3 lakh for each of them for a day’s service.“Rs. 12 lakhs per day for the observers? She has asked an additional Rs. 11 lakhs for her ‘experts’ to suggest changes (to AITA’s constitution),” Parikh told The Times of India.The combined fee of Rs. 23 lakh is over and above the Rs. 10 lakh per month that the High Court had fixed as Mittal’s remuneration. Mittal has also been given the freedom to appoint her own staff at cost to AITA to help her in the process.According to Parikh, the cumulative fee has already run up to Rs 78 lakh.The interim executive committee had then nominated an observer of their own, which Mittal had taken objection to.“Retired Chief Justice Desai is more honourable as an independent observer compared to her observers, who have participated in drafting her suggestions. They cannot be neutral,” Parikh said.“The court order does not entitle her to put observers at a prohibitive cost. Justice Desai is going to charge only Rs. 1 lakh for the whole day.“Besides, the Asian Tennis Federation in consultation with the ITF is also sending an observer on a pro bono basis. Her attitude is unacceptable.”The key amendment suggested by Mittal that seems to have irked the interim committee and other state associations is the inclusion of five Sportspersons of Outstanding Merit (SOM) in the executive committee instead of two, as prescribed by the Act.“So many changes she has suggested that defy the Act’s provision and rationale. AITA is an autonomous society. It will pass amendments which are 100% compliant to the Act and takes care of all the stakeholders,” Parikh asserted.“She (Mittal) keeps the petitioners’ (Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja) advocate (Trisha Chandran) present, and marks all the communications to her. Actually the petition is already disposed of by the order dated 27/04/26. The administrator’s neutrality is becoming questionable.”Responding to Parikh’s remarks, Vasanth Bharadwaj, a former three-time national table tennis champion who was among the experts who assisted Mittal in drafting the constitution, said: “Recently there was a meeting with all the stakeholders including the petitioners. It was specifically to discuss how the EGM should be conducted.“The interim committee took objection to the presence of the petitioners. The Administrator was of the view that they were interested parties and everyone’s inputs should be taken before making a decision.“But the interim committee members were unwilling to continue. So the meeting concluded prematurely without any discussion. That was the platform for either party to discuss four observers or no observers, all of the things.“They lost the opportunity. Subsequently they unilaterally invited their observer without the knowledge of the Administrator, which amounts to contempt of court.”Regarding the compensation aspect, Bharadwaj said: “I would say in general, these questions come from those administrators who have the habit of flying in the front row of the plane while the players are in the back (row). They collect 2000 pounds as allowance while the players get 200 pounds.”On certain amendments seemingly not in sync with the Sports Act, Bharadwaj said the AITA members were free to discuss and adopt or reject them while recording the reasons for the same.The elections as per the new constitution are set to be held by September.The ITF had earlier in May written to the Centre saying it would consider revoking AITA’s membership if the federation were to continue to be under the Administrator’s charge beyond September 30, the deadline set by the Delhi HC in its order dated April 27 to hold elections.
