No relief to Anush, Sudipti from Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to interfere with the non-selection of riders Anush Agarwalla and Sudipti Hajela in India’s dressage team for the upcoming Asian Games in Japan.

A bench consisting of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia upheld a previous ruling made by a single judge, which denied relief to Agarwalla and Hajela.

Both riders are gold medal winners from the Asian Games 2022 and filed petitions against the selection decisions made by the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI).

Dismissing the riders’ appeals, the bench said that while it did not find any infirmity with the preparation of the list of probables, the EFI had failed to duly comply with certain clauses of the selection criteria.

The bench, however, opined that a fresh trial was not possible at this stage and exercised “restraint” in the larger interest of sports and to avoid any adverse impact on the country’s prospects at the Asian Games.

“Having regard to the deadline of July 15, 2026, it is logistically impractical to conduct a further competition within the time frame available, particularly since the riders and horses are located at different places across the globe and transporting horses from different locations to a common venue for conducting a competition amongst all six probables would not be possible in such a short span of time,” the court said.

The court added that, “We are constrained to refrain from interfering with the impugned judgment.”

Such restraint is warranted in the larger interest of the sport and to avoid any adverse impact on the prospects of the Indian team participating in the dressage event at the Asian Games, it added.

The court nonetheless asked the EFI to strictly comply with the selection criteria.

On June 29, the single judge had upheld the EFI’s selection process for the Asian Games dressage team, dismissing petitions filed by riders Agarwalla and Hajela.

The single judge had held that the selection criteria were applied fairly and there was no arbitrariness, perversity or procedural impropriety warranting judicial interference.

Both riders had challenged the June 16 selection list issued by the EFI’s ad hoc committee for the dressage event at the Asian Games in Japan, where they were placed as reserve riders — Agarwalla as first reserve and Hajela as second reserve — while four riders were selected ahead of them.

The single judge, however, rejected all their challenges, including objections to the calculation of Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs), the interpretation of the selection criteria, the absence of additional selection trials and allegations of bias in the selection committee.

The case arose from the selection of India’s dressage team for the Asian Games to be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4.