Supreme Court Terminates Mandate Of CoA To Manage AIFF ; Elections of the Executive Committee Postponed By A Week

Picture : Twitter/ ANI

The Supreme Court has postponed the elections of the Executive Committee of All India Football Federation (AIFF) by a week and also terminated the mandate of the Committee of Administrators (CoA), which was set up to manage AIFF.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said the time for the completion of the election which is ending on August 28 shall stand extended by one week.

It ordered that the day-to-day affairs of the AIFF shall for the time being be managed by the acting Secretary General of AIFF who has already been chosen by the 36 State associations.

The apex court said the Executive Committee of AIFF shall consist of 23 members (17 including the treasurer will be elected by the electoral college of 36 and 6 members shall be drawn from eminent players).

The order was passed to facilitate the revocation of suspension of AIFF by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and to ensure that the prestige of hosting the under-17 women’s World Cup in India is not affected, scheduled for October.

The bench while passing the order hoped its decision would “facilitate the revocation of the suspension of AIFF and the holding of the Under 17 World Cup in order to ensure that the prestige of the nation and ability of players to participate in an international tournament is not affected”.

The Centre had moved the top court relating to the decision of the FIFA Council suspending the AIFF with immediate effect, which has stripped India’s right to host the Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

Today, the Centre requested the Supreme Court to pass orders that the mandate of the CoA be declared to be over in full from August 23.

The Central government has said that one of the concerns of FIFA was that the administration and management of AIFF should be conducted by a duly elected body but not in any case by a third party (CoA) and hence the tenure of the CoA should be over.

FIFA’s concern was also that an independent electoral committee (RO) be elected by the AIFF general assembly to conduct the elections of a new executive committee, it has said in its application. FIFA’s concern was also that the election should take place at the earliest and an elected body should resume administering the functioning of AIFF, it said.

Meanwhile, the bench also heard the plea of Indian football team captain Bhaichung Bhutia supporting the CoA proposal to give 50 per cent representation to the eminent players.

He said the court should stick to its orders despite FIFA’s objections, as the court interventions are in the larger interests of sports reforms.

FIFA, the apex football body has recently announced that it has decided to suspend the AIFF with immediate effect and the decision was taken unanimously by the Bureau of the FIFA Council. The decision has been taken due to “undue influence from third parties”, which constitutes a serious violation of the FIFA Statutes.

FIFA was reportedly concerned by a CoA appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the functioning of AIFF till a democratically elected executive committee is put in place.

The Supreme Court on May 18 appointed a three-member CoA to manage the affairs of the AIFF. The CoA is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd) Anil Dave, and comprises former Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi and a former captain of Indian football team Bhaskar Ganguly.

The Supreme Court order forced AIFF president and NCP leader Praful Patel and his Executive Committee to step down for not holding elections due in December 2020. Patel’s third term in office ended in December 2020. As per rule, 12 years is the maximum term permitted to a national Sports Federation Chief under the Sports Code.

The top court had directed the CoA on August 3 to elect the AIFF Executive Committee and finalise the constitution for AIFF in consonance with the National Sports Code. The apex court had also directed the Executive Committee of the AIFF to expeditiously hold elections as per the schedule proposed by the CoA, which is currently running the affairs of the national federation.

On August 5, the Supreme Court approved the COA timeline for AIFF elections, polls to be held on August 28 and the poll process will start on August 13.

Later, FIFA threatened to suspend the AIFF and strip of its right to host the women’s U-17 World Cup, days after the Supreme Court’s direction to hold elections of the AIFF.

The CoA had earlier filed a contempt petition before the apex court alleging that the ousted AIFF President Praful Patel for misusing his position as a FIFA Council member to undermine the court orders and the conduct of the tournament.