Will Court order against MHA affect Gold Cup?

The Mumbai Civil Court's decision to restrain Kehar Singh, secretary, Mumbai Hockey Association, and the other managing committee members of the MHA from entering the association's premises till further orders, has put a cloud of uncertainty over the prestigious Mumbai Gold Cup hockey tournament scheduled to be hosted by the MHA at their stadium in Churchgate from April 15 to 29.

However, Kehar Singh, who is the convenor of the Gold Cup organising committee, was defiant that the tournament would not be affected by the court order.

"The court has asked us to file our say. We will obey the orders and till such time we will not enter the premises. But the MHA has 1000 members, and if need be, they can take over the responsibilities of organising the event," Kehar Singh told MiD DAY.

"As for the tournament, all the arrangements have been made," said Kehar.

"We will wait for the court's order and then if need be, we will go to the High Court," he added.

Top national outfits including Border Security Force, Punjab and Sind Bank, Bharat Petroleum, ONGC and Air India are expected to take part in MHA's blue riband tournament.

Veteran hockey administrator P S Sujlana and umpire Ranjit Dalvi had filed a petition in the court alleging that Kehar Singh and the other managing committee members of MHA were not entitled to take any decision related to MHAu00a0except regarding holding of elections.

Dalvi and Sujlana contended that despite the earlier court order, Singh had announced that MHA would conduct the Bombay Gold Cup.

Sujlana and Dalvi had also written to Indian Olympic Association's ad-hoc hockey body about the court order.

Kehar Singh said that they had received a communication from IOA's hockey body enquiring about the same. "We have got the clearance from the IOA ad hoc body. They had asked us to give our comments (on the issue) and we replied to them immediately," said Kehar Singh.

Yesterday Judge Vasant R Jadhav passed an order, prohibiting Singh from "entering and occupying" the premises of MHA in south Mumbai till further orders. They have been also asked to file a reply to the petition by April 13.