New Delhi: Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) secretary general and one of India’s biggest names in the sport Kamlesh Mehta was suspended during the Annual General Meeting (AGM), convened by president Meghna Ahlawat.
Former international and two-time Olympian Mehta said the action to convene the meeting itself was “unconstitutional” and open to “legal challenges.”
TTFI has been seeing internal turmoil with the president and secretary general not in the same boat leading to a power tussle within the federation. With the elections due later this year, different factions have got into action to seize administrative control.
Meghna Ahlawat is wife of former Haryana Deputy Chief Minister and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) leader Dushyant Chautala.
The decision to suspend Mehta was taken at the TTFI AGM here on Wednesday. Maharashtra state unit secretary Yatin Tipnis was handed the charge of secretary general. Convening of the AGM, and delay in conduct of the national championships and announcement of the domestic calendar were shown as the reasons for such a drastic change. measure.
In a letter dated Jan 15 TTFI president Ahlawat declared the SGM called by Mehta as unconstitutional and invalid. “It is further clarified that the Annual General Meeting scheduled on 28 January 2026 shall be held as notified,” she said.
Mehta, in his reply to members on January 15, said, “The Article 19(B)(a) of the TTFI Constitution categorically mentions that it is the Secretary General who has the power to convene all the meetings. For the sake of abundant clarity, the TTFI Constitution does not grant to the President the power to call for a meeting.”
“It is only in circumstances, which is the President’s own admitted stand, that the Secretary General does not respond to such requests, when the President may take matters in his/her hand,” Mehta, the eight-time national champion, wrote
“Despite having asked on three occasions now, formally and with all stakeholders marked, the President apart from making false claims of having constitutionally called for the meeting has not supplied any evidence of having made a formal request to me to convene the AGM. Therefore, any claim of the AGM being called for in accordance with the TTFI Constitution is flawed,” he said in his letter.
Interestingly, the SGM was convened by the secretary general and attended by TFFI member units on January 17 where allotment and finalisation of National Championships, and age-group tournaments were decided. According to the minutes of the SGM, the Senior National Championships are to be held in Indore from March 15-11.
An official aware of development said Mehta is yet to be officially intimated about his suspension.
Mehta wrote a letter to the President on Thursday saying his access to documents and records of TTFI has been cut off and that any “manipulation of records or other communication” would be at your sole risk and legal consequences.
