All-India Tennis Association (AITA) president Anil Jain, against whom state associations had proposed a no-confidence motion last year, has urged the Delhi High Court to declare the federation elections conducted in September 2024 as null and void. In response, Executive committee members have reacted sharply to it by calling for a meeting on June 27.

An affiliated AITA unit had alleged last year that Jain had used his position in the federation for personal gains. The no-confidence motion was, however, withdrawn ahead of the annual general meeting which elected a new body.

But the newly-elected office bearers remained outside the system as the election results were with the court in a sealed envelope after Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja filed a petition challenging the validity of the elections.

Responding to the petition, Jain said in his plea on May 26 that the AITA elections should be declared null and void, but requested the court not to appoint a Committee of Administrators (CoA) as it would invite objections and adverse reactions from world governing body ITF and Asian body ATF, besides affecting the functioning of AITA. According to the petition, the ultimate objective of amending the constitution and ensuring efficient functioning of AITA can be achieved by the current management under court supervision.

However, executive committee members contended that Jain did not consult them before filing the reply on behalf of the Federation. Hironmoy Chatterjee, who issued the executive committee meeting notice, said Jain cannot just go and file a petition in the court in this manner without the committee first passing a resolution. Chatterjee also accused Jain of trying to disqualify all other members. He further alleged that unauthorised people were running the organisation.

Jain, however, claimed that he was still the AITA president. “They have vested interest. They never consulted me when they filed a writ against the secretary general nor followed tenure guidelines of the Sports Code,” he said.