Harish Salve, a well-known attorney, will represent the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) in the dispute over Vinesh Phogat’s exclusion from the Paris Olympics.
On Tuesday, Vinesh Phogat created history by becoming the first female wrestler from India to get to the Olympic final. The first international defeat in her career came from defeating Yui Susaki, the reigning world and Olympic champion from Japan. Later, in the semifinal match, Vinesh Phogat defeated Yusneylys Guzman of Cuba, 5-0.
However, after it was discovered that Vinesh Phogat was 100 grams overweight, she was disqualified from the Paris Olympics. She became the first Indian female wrestler to qualify for an Olympic final and was robbed of a podium finish even though she was guaranteed at least a medal. The following day, Phogat also declared his retirement from wrestling.
She also requested the awarding of a joint silver medal and filed a motion with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) challenging her disqualification. According to news agency ANI, the ad hoc hearing at CAS is set to begin at 9:00 AM local time (12:30 PM IST).
The former Solicitor General of India and King’s Counsel, Harish Salve, revealed to ANI that the IOA had hired him to represent Phogat.
More about Harish Salve :
Harish Salve attended Nagpur University to study LLB. In 1992, he was named a senior attorney at the Delhi High Court. In addition, he was India’s Solicitor General from November 1999 until November 2002.
Harish Salve has been involved in several well-known cases, including the one involving Kulbhushan Jadhav, who received the death sentence for espionage by a Pakistani military court. He represented Kulbhushan Jadhav for just ₹1 in legal expenses, and he received a lot of accolades for it.
His notable clientele includes the Tata Group, the ITC Group, and Reliance Industries, owned by Mukesh Ambani. Salve had also made an appearance in the gas dispute case against Reliance Natural Resources Ltd., owned by Anil Ambani, in the Krishna Godavari Basin.
Salve assisted Vodafone in defeating the government in a ₹1,1000-crore tax dispute in 2012. Additionally, he has represented the Delhi police in the matter of the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev devotees and defended Keshub Mahindra in the Bhopal gas tragedy case.
Salve received the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s highest honours, in 2015. Salve took up the 2002 hit-and-run case of Salman Khan, who had previously received a five-year jail sentence, in the same year. After the Bombay High Court’s ruling in December 2015, Khan was cleared of all charges related to the 2002 hit-and-run and drunk-and-drive incidents.
He represented the Union government in the 2018 Cauvery water dispute case before the Supreme Court.
Salve was appointed Queen’s Counsel for the courts of Wales and England in January of last year.
