Ban on Prithviraj illegal and unjust, says Appellate panel
Bengaluru, 15 March 2020: The Indian Motor Sports Appellate Committee of FMSCI consisting of Justice KP Sivasubramaniam (Retd.), Mr S Silambanan (Advocate) and Mrs. Lita Srinivasan (Advocate) gave a clean chit to Mr J Prithvi Raj, the President of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI) and dismissed the ban imposed on him by the FMSCI Council on 21 November 2019. The Committee said that the Council does not have the power to ban either through the Sporting Code or through the Articles of Association and “…the action per se is improper and illegal.”
The Appeal was upheld and the ban was dismissed on 11th March 2020.
In a 6-page verdict signed by all the three members, it also said that the 3-year ban and the demotion as DCoC thereafter for a year, “is clearly illegal and cannot stand any test of reasonable conduct.”
Prithvi Raj was the Clerk of the Course for the Maxperience Rally, Jodhpur, a round of the Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) that was held in September 2019. The rally was organised by Max Experience Private Limited and co-organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club (CASC). In the opening stage, three died in an accident and the rally was cancelled.
After a review meeting on 26 Sept 2019 by FMSCI, its Rally Commission on Oct 4 constituted a committee to inquire into the incident and suggest measures to prevent any such mishaps in the future. On Nov 5, the panel imposed a ban for three years and thereafter a one-year mandatory DCoC period on Prithvi Raj and also fined CASC for Rs.5 lakh.
