Beijing 2008 men's 10 metres air rifle shooting champion Bindra and Moscow 1980 men's hockey winner Somaya join the Department of Sports' secretary and joint secretary and the Sports Authority of India director general on the five-member committee.

The committee is responsible for ensuring Government funding is directed at athletes and their training and travel needs.

A Delhi High Court bench consisting of Chief Justice Satish Chandra and Justice Subramonium Prasad ruled that Bindra and Somaya should be added to the committee as athlete representatives.

A ruling last year had prevented National Federations not acting in compliance with sports administration laws from receiving Government funding, but this had been modified with the aim of securing a strong Indian team at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

"To ensure that sports personnel are also included in the process of disbursement of funds so that the funds released by the Government goes only for the purpose of betterment of sportsmen, their training and to ensure that a good team is sent to represent the country for the Asian Games, this court deems it expedient to modify the order dated June 3, 2022 by which this court had directed that the Government monies should not be spent on any national sports federation," the High Court said, as reported by the Press Trust of India.

This was passed following a petition by senior advocate Rahul Mehra.

The Asian Games are scheduled for September 23 to October 8 in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, having been delayed by one year because of COVID-19 restrictions.

India is one of only seven countries to have competed at every edition of the Asian Games, and placed eighth on the medals table at Jakarta-Palembang 2018 with 16 golds, 23 silvers and 31 bronzes.

Mehra also applied to the bench seeking steps to force the resignation of National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) President Raninder Singh and head of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, having completed their maximum 12-year tenure.

It was suggested by Mehra the NRAI and WFI should be derecognised if their Presidents do not vacate their positions, and this application is expected to feature at a hearing on Thursday (May 4).

Elections at the embattled WFI were due to be held on Sunday (May 7), but the Sports Ministry of India has declared these will be considered "null and void".

Top Indian wrestlers including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and World Championships medal winner Vinesh Phogat have protested on the streets against Singh, who is also a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament.

Singh has been accused of sexual harassment, and Delhi Police has filed two first information reports against him, including one charge relating to sexual offences against a minor.

He denies the allegations, but protests continue calling for his resignation.