The simmering energy battle inside the Desk Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has spilt into the open, with rival conferences convened by the federation’s high office-bearers taking contradictory positions on each authority and legality.
At an Annual Common Assembly (AGM) convened by TTFI president Meghna Ahlawat, spouse of former TTFI supremo Dushyant Chautala, in New Delhi on Wednesday, the Home suspended secretary-general Kamlesh Mehta with speedy impact, in keeping with a number of members current on the assembly. The AGM additionally handed over the cost to Yatin Tipnis, who had misplaced to Mehta within the final election.
The transfer, nevertheless, got here towards the backdrop of a Particular Common Assembly (SGM) convened by the Mehta-led faction in Mumbai on January 17, which questioned the very legality of Wednesday’s AGM. That SGM, chaired by senior vice-president Padmaja Menon, had asserted that it was constitutionally legitimate and that the AGM discover issued by the president was not.
In her AGM discover dated January 6, Ms. Ahlawat cited the secretary-general’s inaction as the rationale for convening the assembly herself. “Regardless of the circulation of the proposed agenda factors just a few days in the past and a proper request to the Secretary Common to convene the Government Committee Assembly and the Annual Common Assembly on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, no response has been acquired from Mr Kamlesh Mehta, nor has any official discover been issued for the stated conferences,” Ms. Ahlawat wrote to members.
Nonetheless, the draft minutes of the January 17 SGM acknowledged, “The Home unanimously resolved that the AGM discover and agenda circulated by the president are unconstitutional and invalid. The current Particular Common Assembly, convened on requisition by greater than one-third of members, is constitutional and legally legitimate.”
Responding on Thursday, Mehta, an eight-time Nationwide champion and an Arjuna Award recipient, advised The Hindu he was at nighttime over his alleged suspension.
“I’ve not acquired any formal communication from both the president or anybody else on the TTFI to date,” Mehta stated. “I had emailed the President in November, conveying the significance of convening the AGM on the earliest. Whereas it went unanswered, it was shocking and surprising to see her degree such allegations towards me once I learn her January 6 communication.”
Ms. Ahlawat didn’t reply to queries from The Hindu. Nonetheless, sources near the president confirmed that Wednesday’s AGM had nullified all choices taken on the January 17 SGM in Mumbai.
The escalating tussle has additionally solid uncertainty over the Senior Nationwide Championship, with the eight-day window in March at Indore — finalised on the January 17 assembly — now below a cloud. With each factions questioning one another’s legitimacy, Indian desk tennis seems headed for one more spell of administrative flux.
Printed – January 31, 2026 12:36 am IST
