The Supreme Court-appointed CoA sought action against former AIFF president Praful Patel, several office-bearers of state football associations for “interfering in the administration of justice”.
The Supreme Court-appointed CoA sought action against former AIFF president Praful Patel, several office-bearers of state football associations for “interfering in the administration of justice”.
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has moved the Supreme Court seeking contempt of court action against former president Praful Patel and several office-bearers of state football associations. “Justice” by accusing the football federation of attempting to defeat the purpose of the Supreme Court’s supervision through the CoA.
The plea said that the court had on August 3 registered an agreement among various parties, including state associations, to first hold the elections to the AIFF in a time bound manner and then finalize the constitution. India to host Women’s Under-27 World Cup in October 2022
The CoA, in its contempt petition submitted by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, said that the state associations had attempted to change the court order, but indirectly.
‘Abused his position’
“The evidence attached to this contempt petition shows that Mr Patel, who was removed as the President of the AIFF, consistently abused his position as a council member of FIFA in order to influence the state associations. A campaign can be conducted in the middle to undermine the various measures. This court is for the betterment of football, in which football players are involved in governance and administration,” the petition alleged.
It reported that on 6 August, the contempt on behalf of the state associations had attended meetings organized by Mr Patel, where “he categorically acknowledges that letters threatening suspension from the FIFA-AFC have been received to ‘help’ them, and that the Government is ready to review the order [August 3] Worst fear”.
The CoA said the government has been “misled by state associations, as is FIFA-AFC who are unaware of the dual role being played by Mr Patel”.
“Although several steps have been taken towards the election, this court-appointed committee wants the measures to be taken [as was done in the BCCI case] To prevent those endangering Indian football from interfering in the monitoring of the court process. Hence, the present contempt petition,” the CoA said.
The name of the petitioner is the contemptuous Mr. Patel; Satyanarayana, General Secretary, Karnataka State Football Association; Avijit Paul, Joint Secretary, Football Association of Odisha; Lalnaghinglova Hamar, Honorary Secretary, Mizoram Football Association; Mulrajsinh Chudasama, Honorary Secretary, Gujarat State Football Association; Shaji Prabhakaran, President, Football Delhi; Subrata Dutta, President, Football Association of India (West Bengal); and Vijay Bali, Joint Secretary, Punjab Football Association
The CoA was constituted by the court to carry forward the governance of the AIFF and the ruling was to be handed over immediately after the order of the apex court dated May 18, 2022, which observed that the continuity of the executive committee of the AIFF during its four years. The term was “not in the interest of proper governance of the Federation”.
joint letter
The petition states that on August 5, a joint letter from FIFA-AFC was sent to the Acting Secretary-General of AIFF, stating that “someone had misinformed FIFA-AFC about the proceedings in the court. FIFA- The AFC had expressed doubts that the promised deadline had been deviated from without the consent of the state associations.
The petition stated that the CoA had responded on behalf of the AIFF in an effort to address the concerns of FIFA-AFC, and pointed out that there had been no deviation and that the federation had agreed to finalize the constitution after the election. were part of the decision. Must be held after haste.
The CoA said that it is learned that the state associations had given their consent and in fact had approached some persons in the Union ministry with a copy of the FIFA-AFC letter dated August 5 and “fearing suspension of the AIFF”. was born. -compliance”. There was no consultation with the CoA. It said, at the behest of the associations, some members of the ministry were convinced that the Supreme Court order should be modified.
“What is worse, and which is the primary cause of the contempt petition, is the continued central role of Mr Patel, who has apparently admitted to arranging the letter from FIFA-AFC, and the meeting of the 35 intervening people.” on 6 August for the purpose of interfering in the proceedings of this Court to the member unions,” the petition argued.