NEW DELHI: The Union government on Tuesday made an urgent request in the Supreme Court for an early hearing as FIFA suspended the All India Football Federation (AIFF), and rescinded India’s India hosting rights for the upcoming Under-17 Women’s World Cup in October.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, mentioned the matter before a bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.
Mehta submitted that “some development” has taken place in the matter related to AIFF and requested the court to hear the matter on Wednesday.
The Bench told Mehta that the case is listed as first item on Wednesday.
“Mehta did not mention the suspension of AIFF specifically before the court, but submitted that he will circulate the FIFA press release, which is already in public domain, so that the Bench gets an idea about the development.”
On August 3, the apex court had passed directions for conducting elections for the AIFF executive committee ahead of the hosting of the U-17 women’s world cup by India.
After this order, the Committee of Administrators (CoA) moved a contempt petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against former AIFF president Praful Patel and representatives of 7 state associations accusing them of indirectly stalling the court ordered elections to the AIFF.
In a nutshell, the CoA’s decision to engage in legal manoeuvring and blame games rather than focusing its attention on ensuring that the AIFF’s elections are conducted as per the deadlines set by FIFA is what has led Indian football to this sorry pass.
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