NEW DELHI: Even as the Committee of Administrators running Indian football wastes precious time airing its angst on perceived machinations being enacted by former AIFF president Praful Patel, the Centre, through the Sports Ministry, has filed an application with the Supreme Court seeking modification of the top court’s order dated August 3 so that the election process could be concluded before the deadline set by FIFA-AFC.
On August 5, FIFA-AFC had warned that if it finds the AIFF governance is not under democratic administration on or before September 15, there is a likelihood of stringent action being taken against AIFF, which would result in the withdrawal of hosting rights of the Women’s U-17 World Cup.
In its prayer, the ministry has requested the apex court that in light of the exigency of the situation, the order dated August 3 be modified “to the extent of stating that interim arrangement of Elections to the Executive Committee of AIFF be held as per the time schedule already indicated in the tabulated statement set out in the said order, on the basis of the pre-existing membership structure of the AIFF”.
The ministry stated that in view of the unresolved status of objections submitted by various stakeholders, the finalisation of the AIFF draft constitution would take time, adding that the elections were necessary to avoid any adverse action on the part of FIFA-AFC, “to whom the AIFF is affiliated”.
The ministry urged the Supreme Court to modify its August 3 order to the extent that the election process be allowed, and assured that the objections of all relevant stakeholders will be addressed by the new elected body in the draft constitution.
While making the prayer, the Sports Ministry made several observations to cite that the draft constitution that was submitted by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to the Supreme Court on July 15, 2022, suffers from deficiency of inaccurate cross-linkage and referencing of various article in the document, as well as deficiencies in properly numbering of articles and sub-articles.
The ministry added that, from a collective reading of the aforesaid correspondence, it emerges that the FIFA-AFC have strong reservations in the membership structure of AIFF.
“It is submitted that the membership structure in the order dated 03.08.2022 appears to be not meeting the approval of FIFA-AFC, which aspect, if not resolved with a modification in the aforesaid order dated 03.08.2022, may defeat the very purpose for which such exercise was so kindly initiated by this Hon’ble Court.”
Finally, in the submission, the ministry wrote, “That in light of the development, it appears that notwithstanding the best efforts of the CoA, this Hon’b!e Court and the cooperation extended by other stakeholders, the inclusion of new members (36 sportspersons) into the membership structure of AIFF, the desired purpose may not have been achieved requiring a fresh look into this aspect by this Hon’ble Court so as to facilitate the prime objective of retaining the hosting rights of the Women’s U-17 World Cup.”
The Centre pointed out to the top court that after the August 3, order, FIFA had addressed a letter to the AIFF on August 5 and stated that a roadmap was already agreed upon between the AIFF and FIFA by way of letters dated July 1 and letter of reiteration dated July 25.
It said that in terms of such a roadmap, the AIFF was required to hold a special general assembly in the first week of August 2022 to approve the new statute for the AIFF.
The ministry further quoted the letter of FIFA, “The order of the Supreme Court dated August 3, 2022, appears to have caused certain deviations from the roadmap agreed to between AIFF and FIFA and the same, “if considered to be true, would irrefutably jeopardise the mutual understanding which was displayed so far on the steps forward”.
It added that the AIFF is statutorily required to independently manage its affairs, uninfluenced by any third parties – references in this regard are placed upon Article 14.1 (i) and Article 19.1 of FIFA statutes.
“Upon examination of the transcript of the order of the Supreme Court, if severe deviations are found from the roadmap, the matter would be submitted to the relevant authority for further considerations including the suspension of the AIFF and the withdrawal of the hosting rights for the 2022 FIFA-U-17 Women’s World Cup in India”, the government said while referring to the letter of FIFA.
The government said that it was not privy to correspondences between CoA and FIFA which have been in dialogue since July 1 and certain commitments which have been made in relation to a roadmap for progress and in relation to the draft constitution being in compliance with FIFA statutes.
The application said that on August 7, the Centre received representations from several state federations, and during deliberations, it received copies of correspondences.
On August 3, the top court directed for holding of elections expeditiously to the executive committee of the AIFF as per the schedule proposed by the CoA.
It took note of the fact that from October 11, 2022, India is due to host the FIFA Under-17 Women world cup 2022.
The top court had said that the Electoral College for the executive committee of AIFF would have representatives from 36 state football associations and 36 representatives of eminent football players.
It said that 36 representatives of eminent football players would consist of 24 members of male football players and 12 female players, who have played at least one international football match representing India and have retired from international tournaments two years prior to the date of notification of the elections.
The top court said that the national sports code cannot be read in a manner of the statute and a holistic understanding of its provisions has to be arrived at to effectuate its intent and purpose.
“In this backdrop, consistent with the need for the healthy development of the sports of football in India, the inclusion of eminent players, who actually represented the country, would be of immense benefit for ensuring the growth of the sports in a healthy and orderly manner”, it had said.
The apex court had on May 18 appointed a three-member CoA headed by former top court judge Anil R Dave to manage the affairs of the AIFF and ousted the Praful Patel-led executive committee, which had overstayed its four-year term by two years and counting.
