New Delhi, April 7 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought the Centre's stand on a plea challenging the recognition of the Indian Pickleball Association (IPA) as a national federation of the sport.
The court asked it to produce the entire record of the decision-making process, including the consideration of the request of the All India Pickleball Association (AIPA) in the matter.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice to the Union Sports Ministry and IPA on an appeal by AIPA, assailing a single judge's order upholding the ministry's decision and listed the matter for hearing on May 8.
It also issued a notice on the appeal by the New Indian Pickleball Association against the single judge's verdict.
The bench ordered that when considering the renewal of IPA's recognition, the ministry must provide an opportunity for written submissions and a personal hearing to AIPA and the New Indian Pickleball Association.
During the hearing, the bench asked the central government counsel how the IPA was recognised when it allegedly did not meet the criteria to become a national sports federation (NSF). It also asked whether AIPA had been informed about any formal rejection of its request for recognition.
"There are two applications. One fulfils the requirements, one does not… You considered the other application with grant of exemption. How is it permissible?... What can be more arbitrary than this? Did you ever intimate to them (AIPA) that your application seeking recognition is rejected because you do not fulfil the requirements? Where is that communication?" the bench asked the Centre's lawyer.
The central government counsel said the IPA became the NSF because only one unit can get recognition.
"We direct that on the next date Respondent no. 1 (Centre) shall produce the entire record where the application seeking recognition made by the appellant (AIPA) as well as Respondent no. 2 (IPA) are said to have been considered by the government," the bench ordered.
A senior counsel representing AIPA submitted that the sports ministry recognised IPA in violation of the Sports Code by unjustly exempting it from several requirements.
The senior lawyer also alleged that despite an experience of over a decade, its application seeking recognition, which was submitted in October 2024, was deemed to be rejected by the authorities after it recognised IPA, an entity which was incorporated only in November 2024.
IPA was granted recognition on April 25, 2025, making it eligible for financial grants from the Sports Ministry and autonomy to regulate, promote and develop the sport nationally.
On February 3, a single judge dismissed a petition by AIPA challenging the Union Sports Ministry's decision to recognise the IPA as a national federation of the sport, holding that the recognition was neither ex facie arbitrary, nor did it suffer from manifest unreasonableness.
In its petition before the single judge, AIPA alleged that while it had been in existence since 2008 and actively promoting and developing the sport in India, the sports ministry granted recognition to a 138-day-old organisation in violation of the Sports Code.
The sports ministry exempted IPA from the conditions of having a "prior existence of three years at the time of applying for recognition" and "50 per cent district units affiliated with the state/UT units."
The judge rejected AIPA's contentions, saying there was nothing remiss in the provisions of the Sports Code which enabled the ministry to grant relaxation in certain situations.
It observed that the Sports Code was non-statutory in nature and could not be construed to be "rigid or incapable of incorporating exemptions", especially in the case of emerging sports such as pickleball.