NEW DELHI: Minerva Punjab FC owner Ranjit Bajaj has taken the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) to court for its decision to ban him for a year from all football activities.
Bajaj filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court on Monday challenging the ban order which was enforced by the AIFF after he was found guilty of making racist remarks against a referee during Minerva’s Under-18 Youth League play-off match against Aizawl FC at JLN Stadium in Shillong on May 12. According to the disciplinary committee’s findings, Bajaj hurled racial comments and abuses against referee Pynskhemhame Mawthoh, who is of North East descent.
Bajaj has now taken the football federation to court for imposing severe ban while also issuing a fine of Rs 1 million.
Mail Today reports that Bajaj was to file a separate criminal defamation suit against Ushanath Banerjee, head of AIFF’s disciplinary committee and several referees, including Mawthoh, in the Chandigarh High Court on Tuesday seeking Rs 10 million in damages.
A senior club official told Mail Today: “We have filed a writ petition against the AIFF officials, including Ushanath Banerjee, general secretary Kushal Das and a list of referees, including Mr Mawthoh.”
Minerva Punjab’s petition before the Delhi High Court puts forward eight arguments challenging AIFF’s ban order.
The club official told Mail Today: “In the writ, we have told them it’s entirely inhibitory because there is no procedure that has been followed. We have listed eight arguments in front of the court. The first argument is that there was no time given to us to reply or tell them our side of the story. In the court of law, you don’t pronounce a judgement without listening to the other party. May be the committee has undeniable proof of what they are saying is true or they are having video of the incident to impose a ban on the spot. But they didn’t give us anything.
“Secondly, the amount of time they have taken. Within three hours, the first appeal, the second appeal and then the ban was issued on a Sunday night. It shows that they have mala fide intentions. Third, their appeal is farce because they have said that Ranjit is a repeated offender. We have three previous appeals pending with the AIFF disciplinary committee for over a year which they haven’t heard. If no judgments have been passed on those appeals, how can Ranjit be a repeated offender?”
According to Bajaj, charges cropped up against him due to him pursuing a complaint of theft during the club’s stay in Shillong.
“I filed an FIR in Shillong because around 20 cell phones and cash were missing from our locker room, the keys to which we handed to the match commissioner. I had informed the match commissioner about it,” Bajaj told the tabloid.
“Moreover, we also asked the AIFF to impose a ban on East Bengal for unethically approaching our players in a bid to sign them. They tried to poach our players and we have proved it in front of the federation. No action was taken here, too. I really don’t understand why the federation has banned me for a year. It’s really sad,” he stated.
