The Delhi high court has ordered on Thursday that the national sports development code should be enforced for electing the chiefs of sporting bodies in the country.

The order will prevent heads of sporting federations from seeking reelections after 12 years of holding the post, which means three successive terms. The national sports development code says that no person shall stand eligible for applying for reelection after leading a federation for three successive terms.

The national sports development code also fixes 70 years as the age limit for people applying for the post of the head of a sporting body. The code had come into effect on January 1 in the previous year. Suresh Kalmadi, who has been chief of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for over 18 years will not be eligible to reply when the IOC holds election in November, under the new rules.

A HC bench of acting chief justice AK Sikri and justice RS Endlaw ruled that the elections in IOA will be as per the national sports development code. The order came after a lawyer Rahul Mehra had filed a PIL claiming that some in the country were turning sporting bodies into their fiefdoms.