New Delhi: In a big relief for Gurbaj Singh, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today termed the nine-month ban imposed on the experienced midfielder for creating groupism and disharmony within the team as "illegal" and ordered stay on the sanction with immediate effect.

The Court gave Hockey India (HI) a week's time to convene a meeting of its Athletes Grievances Redressal Committee to deliberate and take a call on the matter.