Gurbaj Singh vs Hockey India: HC gives HI time till Oct 13 to reply to Gurbaj's petition against ban

New Delhi: Hockey India (HI) on Tuesday asked the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) for time to prepare its reply to the petition filed by banned India player Gurbaj Singh, following which the HC has asked the federation to file its response before October 13.

Indian midfielder Gurbaj Singh moved the High Court with a civil writ petition on Sept 30 following Hockey India's decision to uphold his nine-month ban after the player appealed the initial decision of an HI Committee.

Gurbaj, in a report filed by former India assistant coach Jude Felix, had been reported for "misbehaviour" and "groupism" in the team during the FIH Hockey World League semi-finals in Belgium. An HI Disciplinary committee headed by former Olympian Harbinder Singh then found Gurbaj guilty of the charges and banned him for nine months. Felix resigned soon after filing the report citing personal reasons.

Gurbaj, however, maintained that he was innocent and all the charges against him were "baseless" and "pre-planned"; hence, he decided to drag HI to court.

"I have full faith in the Indian judicial system as I have been banned without any reason. It's totally wrong to ban a player based on one person's report when most of the other team staff and players have no problem with my behaviour," Gurbaj had said after filing the petition.

Interestingly, India's ex-chief coach Paul van Ass was also fired after the tournament following an ugly exchange with HI president Narinder Batra.

Advocate Puran Singh Hundal, who is representing Gurbaj in the petition, said that Justice RK Jain will give his verdict on October 13.

"Court has given October 13 as the date when Justice RK Jain will announce the verdict. Hockey India have been told to file their reply in the meantime. Either the ban will be quashed or the petition will get dismissed," Hundal told IBNLive.

He said as per Hockey India's code of conduct governing players and officials, there is no provision for banning a player for nine months on charges pressed against Gurbaj.

"The maximum a player can be banned for misbehaviour is for five matches. There is no provision [in the code of conduct] for banning a player for nine months," he said. "The court asked the same question to Hockey India, but the respondents said they need time to reply."

Gurbaj, however, has found support from fans and players, who have spoken in favour of the player. Some of the hockey fans have even formed a community called 'Justice for Gurbaj' on Facebook which has more than 10,000 members.

Star India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh, who is a senior member in the current national team, also refuted charges of disharmony on Gurbaj, saying that he has never had a problem with him. "He is a fantastic player, one of the best in the team. As a co-player, I find nothing wrong in his behaviour," Sreejesh spoke to IBNLive over the phone from a fitness camp in Shilaroo.

High Performance Director Roelant Oltmans, who took over as chief coach after the Van Ass saga, also threw his weight behind Gurbaj, though it fell to deaf ears with Hockey India.

"The fact that one player [Gurbaj] is not there [in the squad] has to do really nothing with disharmony in the team. I want to make this very, very clear," Oltmans told reporters at a press conference at the RK Khanna Stadium where the team stays these days when training in Delhi.

"You can ask these boys," Oltmans pointed at VR Raghunath and Sreejesh to his right and captain Sardar Singh sitting to his left. "There is absolutely no disharmony in the team."

However, these statements were conveniently ignored by Hockey India that refused to reduce or remove the ban, which - if it stays in force - will almost finish Gurbaj's career, who has already missed out on the Hockey India League auction, will miss the World League finals and will be out of reckoning for the Rio Olympics as well.