NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will reportedly finalise the draft constitution of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which has been framed by the Committee of Administrators (CoA), when it next takes up the matter for further hearing on 28th July.
The elections of the AIFF will be held after the apex council finalises the constitution next week. The CoA had submitted its draft to the Supreme Court on 15th July.
In its hearing on Thursday, the Bench said: “The committee of administrators have finalised the report and 250 comments were received by COA.”
The CoA comprises Justice (retired) Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr SY Quraishi and former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly. The apex court directed the CoA to assist the Supreme Court in facilitating the adoption of the constitution and prepare electoral rolls for the purpose of conducting elections of the AIFF at the earliest.
AIFF acting general secretary Sunando Dhar said: “After a lengthy set of discussions with various stakeholders, the draft Constitution of the AIFF has finally been submitted to the Honourable Court. I would like to congratulate everyone involved in the process on this swift move forward, and hope that with the new constitution in place, we can move ahead with developing Indian football.”
Dr Quraishi in a statement said: “After a lot of deliberation, we have finally narrowed down on a draft constitution that would put the AIFF in line with the National Sports Code, as well as help it function efficiently as a Member Association of the FIFA and the AFC. We are confident that with these set of changes, the Federation will now be in a good position to guide Indian football further ahead.”
It bears noting that Reliance Industries Ltd-controlled Football Sports Development Ltd, AIFF’s commercial partners, had moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday raising multiple objections to the draft that had been presented by the CoA.
Additionally, objections from FSDL notwithstanding, a number of state football associations have also approached the top court over certain clauses in the draft.
A seven-member panel representing state FAs had earlier written to FIFA stating that many clauses of the draft constitution were “discriminatory and illogical”.
As per current reports doing the rounds, at the 28th July hearing, aggrieved parties have been told to submit objections in “two pages”. The draft constitution will subsequently be finalised, as too the elections timeline. As for the objections raised by FSDL in particular, the apex court will leave it up to the newly elected body to resolve.
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