Delhi HC quashes Centre’s recognition of 'Yogasana Bharat' as national sports federation, orders fresh selection process

New Delhi: In a setback to the Centre’s push to promote yoga as a competitive discipline, the Delhi high court on Thursday quashed the sports ministry’s 2020 recognition of ‘Yogasana Bharat’ as the national sports federation (NSF), holding that the decision violated the national sports development code.

The ministry had recognised Yogasana Bharat in November 2020 and renewed it annually, while the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) recently granted it affiliation as an NSF member without voting rights on the ministry’s directions. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav delivered the 52-page verdict in ‘Yoga Federation of India vs Union of India & Ors’. A copy of the detailed judgment is with TOI.Yogasana Bharat is headed by Udit H Sheth, while Baba Ramdev is the president of World Yogasana.

India recently hosted the inaugural World Yogasana Championships in Ahmedabad, topping the medal tally.Quashing the ministry’s recognition letter, the subsequent speaking order of October 19, 2021, and all renewal orders from 2022-25, the court directed the ministry to issue, within 60 days, a public notice inviting fresh applications for NSF recognition and complete the process in accordance with law.Reacting sharply to both sports and AYUSH ministries and Yogasana Bharat’s arguments, the court stated the deficiencies were “not a marginal technical deficit but a yawning chasm,” “this is a case of the complete absence of the substantive qualifications that the law demands,” and that “the grant of recognition to a three-month-old body (Yogasana Bharat), on the basis of an inter-ministerial recommendation alone, is not a fair action but an arbitrary action.

”The court further observed that the sports ministry acted on the AYUSH ministry’s recommendation “without independent examination and that is abdication.”However, the court protected athletes by ordering that all certificates, medals, rankings, and selections earned during Yogasana Bharat’s recognised tenure “shall remain valid and undisturbed”, observing that relief must not prejudice innocent sportspersons.