CHANDIGARH: Hero I-League side Minerva Punjab FC (MPFC) will be heaving a huge sigh of relief as its founding director, Ranjit Bajaj has been found not guilty by the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) appeals committee on the charge of having racially abused a referee during an Under-18 league match back in May.
Due to the controversy, he was banned for 12 months and fined Rs 1 million, a punishment which has now been nullified by the committee.
The club appealed against the ban with Bajaj denying all charges levelled against him. His case was heard on 25 July. MPFC counsel Amitabh Tewari argued that the decision had been passed in total violation of natural justice and that due processes as per the disciplinary code had not been followed in passing the order. Bajaj was given no opportunity to defend himself and was not heard by the committee before passing the impugned order.
With the I-League season fast approaching and AFC Champions League preparations in high gear, Minerva Punjab were eagerly awaiting the decision for the past two months. The committee observed in its judgement “Considering that the charges levelled are of such serious nature, and if proved would invite serious consequences, the committee believes that a chance of hearing could have been given. The committee is also mindful of concerns raised regarding the impugned order being contrary to the provisions of Article 116 of the Disciplinary Code.”
The appeals committee, AIFF’s highest independent committee, also observed that the whole Disciplinary Code is archaic and bad and itself prevents efficient decision making by AIFF’s judicial bodies. The committee advised the AIFF to “update and revise the disciplinary code in order to bring it at par with global best practices”.
Henna Singh Bajaj, Minerva Punjab FC co-owner and director said: “We were always confident that the Appeals committee would overturn the ridiculous orders passed by the disciplinary committee. Ranjit is Minerva and Minerva is Ranjit, he has been serving his ban for the last five months, and now we find out that the whole order was bad! If the disciplinary committee holds clubs to such high and stringent standards then their own functioning should be faultless.”
