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Vaasvi Khaitan (Minor, through her father) vs. Ad-Hoc Committee for the Governance of Equestrian Federation of India & Ors.

Letters Patent Appeal · 2026:DHC:8244-DBDecided 24 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
LPA 760/2026CNR: DLHC010452722026
Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya · Justice Tejas Karia

Background

Vaasvi Khaitan, a minor show-jumping rider, challenged a single judge's decision upholding her exclusion from being India's principal representative at the Youth Olympic Games 2026, after the Equestrian Federation of India (EFI) fixed 08.05.2026 (the date its Selection Criteria were uploaded) as the opening date for counting a rider's qualifying results. She argued this retrospectively excluded several of her earlier qualifying scores and that the "true" selection window should have started on 08.11.2025, when India's Olympic quota was secured through an earlier competition.

Decision Breakdown

The Division Bench held that no document actually fixed 08.11.2025 as the opening date either, so the Single Judge's finding that 08.05.2026 (the date the criteria were published) was the valid commencement date was not a retrospective change of rules. The Court found EFI's selection process (through two successive selection decisions) was not shown to be mala fide, arbitrary, or contrary to its own criteria, even though it agreed the process suffered from a lack of clarity that caused repeated litigation. The appeal was dismissed, upholding the ranking that placed the appellant third among the riders considered.

Lesson Learnt

Courts give sports federations wide latitude in interpreting their own selection criteria and will not redraw merit lists absent clear proof of arbitrariness or bad faith; federations, however, are directed to frame future criteria and timelines with far greater clarity to avoid such disputes.

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