Former Indian tennis players Somdev Devvarman and Purav Raja have taken the All India Tennis Association to court days before the sports body was expected to hold its elections.

Devvarman, a former India No 1 singles player, and doubles specialist Raja, claim that the All India Tennis Association, or AITA, has been a “serial offender” in violating the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011.

The duo filed a petition at the Delhi High Court on Monday accusing the AITA of violating several provisions of the Sports Code, including ‘lack of any seats for athletes in the Central Council / General Assembly of AITA, lack of any mechanism for athletes to elect eminent sportspersons of outstanding merit to represent them in the Central Council / General Assembly, lack of reservation of seats for athletes in the Executive Committee and lack of any mechanism whereby athletes are elected from the Central Council / General Assembly to the Executive Committee,’ as per The Indian Express.

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Devvarman and Raja have also reportedly made the government a party to the case citing, “Sports Ministry has never once made efforts to ascertain if AITA is in compliance with the SportsCode.. and has turned a blind eye to multiple patent violations.”

As per The Tribune, the former players have also requested the court to ensure that the Sports Ministry makes sure that the upcoming elections are held as per the Sports Code and appoint an administrator to run the federation in their petition.

“Appoint a retired judge of the Hon’ble Court Supreme Court or of this Hon’ble Court or any other High Court as an Administrator of the Respondent No.2 AITA, with an honorarium to be paid by the Respondent No.1 and / or Respondent No.2 AITA, and with permission to employ such professionals and other qualified individuals to assist the Administrator in this process,” the petition read.