Brijinder Singh re-elected IGU President; S.K. Sharma elected Hony. Secretary & Sanjiv Rattan as Hony Treasurer

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Brijinder Singh has been re-elected as the President of the Indian Golf Union (IGU) at its annual general meeting held successfully at the India Habitat Centre here on Sunday. The AGM was held under the supervision of Returning Officer Justice (Retd) Rameshwar Singh Malik.

The other office-bearers elected were S.K. Sharma (Honorary Secretary) and Sanjiv Rattan (Honorary Treasurer).

Additionally, nine members elected to the Governing Council. These are Farzan R Heerjee (Jharkhand), Harpuneet Singh Sandhu (Chandigarh), Harish Kumar (Uttarakhand), Nagesh Singh (Assam), Dr Param Navdeep Singh (Rajasthan), Sameer Sinha (Gujarat), Shashank Sandu (Maharashtra), Simarjeet Singh (Uttar Pradesh) and Viren Singh Ghumman (Punjab).

The elections for IGU’s office-bearers and Governing Council for the term 2024-2026 were elected unopposed since the number of candidates matched the number of available positions.

The election process was observed by a representative from the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MYAS) and conducted in strict adherence to the Model Election Guidelines and the Memorandum of Association (MOA). The process was transparent, impartial, and in full compliance with all relevant regulations.

IGU President Brijinder Singh plans to develop excellence centre, make SGAs compliant and bring more good amateurs into the system

By Deepak Arora

NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Brijinder Singh, who has been re-elected as the President of the Indian Golf Union (IGU) at its annual general meeting held here on Sunday, plans to continue the good work started back in 2022.

This includes introducing the National Squad System, strengthening the partnerships with R&A (world rules governing body) and Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC), enhancing the National Golf Academy of India (NGAI), making rogue State Golf Associations (SGAs) compliant under IGU byelaws and creation of an excellence centre that builds bench strength of talented golfers.

The meeting approved the minutes of the last AGM, adopted the Annual Report, appointed the auditors and approved the accounts for the financial year 2023-2024.

“The main work of the new team is to carry forward the good work we have done in the last few years. They are good golfers, most of them have been part of the Governing Council with me previously as well. We are very clear on our growth path and we will continue to work in that direction,” Brijinder Singh said in a statement.

Talking about the State Golf Associations (SGAs) controlled by the Army, he said: “The case of State Golf Associations (SGAs) housed in Army cantonments should have been looked into earlier. We would like to handhold them and make them compliant. In case they don’t get compliant we will have to look for other alternatives. But we don’t want to disrupt our functioning SGAs. Our first objective will be to make the Army SGAs compliant and make them part of the system.”

In the last couple of years, Indian amateurs have scripted some significant milestones and created history as well in golf. Avani Prashanth went on to end India’s 43-year-old individual title drought in the Queen Sirikit Cup last year. 14-year-old Kartik Singh, also inducted in the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) under the Sports Ministry achieved a top-10 finish in the Nomura Cup, a feat completed after nine years since Aman Raj’s individual fifth-place result in 2015 Abu Dhabi. Kartik also won the Singapore Junior Championship this year.

Aditi Ashok became India’s first female golfer to earn an Asian Games medal, when she clinched a silver medal at Hangzhou 2022. Brijinder Singh is confident that IGU will bring more talented amateurs to the system with consistent efforts and creation of an excellence centre.

“We feel the good results of the Indian amateurs recently is because of the National Squad system we started, where we bring in mind trainers, nutritionists, physiotherapists etc. We gave the amateurs specialised training with the latest equipment and I am sure that is also helping. But moreover we created a conducive environment where the kids know that their future is secure. We will look towards making a more robust training system. We are trying to create an excellence centre and this is not just going to be a spurt. The good performances will continue and we will bring more good players into the system.”

The Indian Open, flagship event of the IGU, has seen an unprecedented rise in prize money in the last two years. Backed by Hero MotoCorp, the title sponsors, the Indian Open’s prize purse has swelled from $2 million to $2.25 million. The DP World Tour event will be staged at the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurugram from March 27 to 31, 2025.

“We have signed a contract with Hero MotoCorp for the next six years to be the title sponsors of the Indian Open. This also helps IGU to utilise the funds in promotion of the game better. We are doing the event in DLF in the coming year and plan to shift it to other locations in India as well as it is the Indian Open. In fact, we visited a few venues to see the feasibility but it was last minute for Hero so next year we will definitely look at taking it to other venue as well and make it much larger ,” IGU honorary secretary SK Sharma said.

The financial health of IGU also got better with the overall revenue increasing from Rs 12 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 24.5 crore in 2023-24, courtesy austerity measures and cost cutting on unnecessary expenses.

“We have not curtailed good expenditure but removed bad expenditure. Over the previous years, we have started offering lunches to amateurs for all four days of the tournament. There were certain over-spending happening like FDs at low interest rates all that is being closely monitored. Our balance sheet which was Rs 12 crore two years back has swelled to Rs 24.5 crore now and is likely to go up even more as the game progresses,” IGU honorary treasurer Sanjiv Rattan said.

Justice Rameshwar Singh Malik to remain Returning Officer for IGU polls

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: Justice Rameshwar Singh Malik will continue to be the Returning Officer for the Indian Golf Union (IGU) elections, scheduled to be held on December 15, as the honourable Delhi High Court dismissed Bengal Golf Association’s appeal for his removal late on Tuesday.

The Delhi High Court refused to quash the letter of Justice Malik’s appointment as Returning Officer issued by IGU President Brijinder Singh following the resignations of former Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court Permod Kohli and ex-judge of the Allahabad High Court – Justice O P Garg.

The Bengal Golf Association had approached the Honourable Delhi High Court, essentially seeking the following: 1. Declaring communication dated 05.12.2024 sent by the President (IGU), appointing Respondent No. 5 [Justice (Retd.) Rameswar Singh Malik] as the Returning Officer as null and void, in light of Respondent No. 4 [Justice (Retd.) O.P Garg] already being appointed. 2. Restraining Respondent No. 2 (President IGU) to modify, alter and in any manner interfere with the electoral college.

The Petitioner made the following parties as the Respondents in the said matter: 1. Union of India 2. Indian Golf Union (Through its President) 3. Indian Olympic Association 4. Justice (Retd.) O.P. Garg 5. Justice (Retd.) Rameshwar Singh Malik

Delhi High Court after hearing the parties at length passed a detailed Judgment/ Order dated 10.12.2024. The Honourable High Court in para 8 records that the Petitioner seeks quashing of the orders of the President, IGU, appointing returning officer and exclusion of Bengal Golf Association from the electoral list.

Delhi High Court, after hearing the parties, refused to interfere with the election process. The honourable High Court, acknowledging the election schedule issued by Justice (Retd) Rameshwar Singh Malik (Respondent No.5), held that the poll is scheduled to be held in five days and any controversy can be raised in challenge to the election results, rather than during the process.

The honourable High Court held that it was not inclined to interfere with the decision of disqualification of the Bengal Golf Association and other associations (by the President, IGU), at the stage of election process. The honourable High Court held that the rights of the Petitioner or any other party, to challenge the election will remain open.

The prayers of the Petitioner which included quashing of order of the President appointing Justice (Retd.) Rameshwar Singh Malik as the Returning officer as well as quashing of the list (of the President) which excluded the Petitioner (Bengal Golf Association), was not granted by the honourable Delhi High Court.

It is pertinent to point out the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) was duly represented through its counsel during the hearing. IOA is aware of the present order.