New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday removed former Union Minister Praful Patel and his committee from the All India Football Federation administration and appointed a three-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by a former top court judge. The court also directed adoption of AIFF constitution in line with the National Sports Code and model guidelines. As per the ruling, retired Justice AR Dave will be managing the affairs of the AIFF. Patel has completed his three terms and 12 years as the AIFF chief in December 2020 — the maximum period permitted to a national sports federation (NSF) chief under the Sports Code. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant and PS Narasimha said the CoA will comprise two earlier members — former Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi and former captain of the Indian Football Team, Bhaskar Ganguly, besides Justice (retd) Dave. On May 12, the top court had agreed to hear a petition of the Delhi Football Club (DFC) alleging the “illegal continuation of a committee and Praful Patel as president of AIFF for over a decade”. The top court said the current state of affairs is not in the interest of proper governance of the federation. It directed the CoA to forthwith take charge of the national governing body of Indian Football and aid the court by providing inputs in facilitating adoption of the constitution by the AIFF in accordance with the National Sports Code and model guidelines. The bench said the CoA will prepare electoral rolls for the purpose of conducting elections to the executive committee of AIFF as per the constitution to be submitted by the two-member committee (ombudsman) of Qureshi and Ganguly. “The committee of administrators shall carry out day-to-day governance of the All India Football Federation”, the bench said. The CoA will be taking help of the erstwhile committee of the federation in holding of tournaments and selection of players and other affairs. The bench said the newly constituted committee of administrators shall sit in Football House at Dwarka or any other place of convenience. The top court clarified it will be pro-tem arrangement in order to facilitate the holding of polls and handing over all affairs to the democratically elected body in accordance with the constitution. The court made it clear that it expected that the elections to the body will be held expeditiously. The top court earlier in the months was told by lawyer Prashant Bhushan that an illegal committee has been continuing to head the AIFF due to the non-hearing of a petition of the football body against the 2017 decision of the Delhi High Court. “In 2017, the last election of the football federation was set aside by the Delhi High Court. “When an SLP was filed in this court, this court appointed a committee headed by former election commissioner and sports secretary Qureshi to prepare a Constitution for AIFF in accordance with the sports code. Even that was done long ago..,” Bhushan told the court on May 12. The Sports Ministry had earlier filed an affidavit in the apex court saying that Patel has got no mandate to continue as AIFF president as he has already served three terms and the national body was bound to hold elections without further delay. The affidavit was filed concerning a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the AIFF, and the sports ministry. “…the term of the existing committee (of AIFF) is already over, and the existing president (Praful Patel) has completed more than 12 years as president, the petitioner (AIFF) should hold elections without further delay as per extant instructions contained under Sports Code and the instructions issued by the answering respondent (sports ministry) from time to time,” the ministry’s affidavit said. The AIFF had not held the elections, citing the pending petition in the Supreme Court regarding its constitution. The AIFF’s application in the top court only a month ahead of the then scheduled polls, had sought certain clarifications on the status of its constitution, which went into scrutiny under the apex court since 2017. In 2017 also, the Delhi High Court had set aside Patel’s election as AIFF president (in the 2016 AGM) on a petition by senior advocate Rahul Mehra. But then the top court had stayed the high court’s decision, allowing Patel to continue. In February, at the AGM in Mumbai, Patel agreed to constitute a committee to look into the matter. (UNI)
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