The Supreme Court will take up on Wednesday an application moved by the Union government for modification of the top court’s May 18 order constituting a committee of administrators (CoA) to replace the elected body of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) amid Fifa’s suspension of the federation and its decision to strip India of its right to host the Under-17 women’s World Cup, scheduled in October.
A bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice A.S. Bopanna assured solicitor-general Tushar Mehta that the matter would be taken up as the “first item” on Wednesday after the top law officer orally brought to the court’s notice the development following Fifa’s decision.
“One matter is coming up tomorrow with regard to the AIFF. There was some development yesterday (Fifa-related). It may not be deleted,” Mehta told the bench during the morning mentioning time. Justice Chandrachud, heading the bench, then told Mehta that “It would not be deleted. Court master says it is the first item tomorrow.”
The solicitor-general then said that he would also place on record the letter written by Fifa suspending AIFF and depriving India of its right to host the Under-17 women’s World Cup. Fifa on Monday said it was suspending AIFF with immediate effect due to “undue influence from third parties, which constitutes a serious violation of the Fifa statutes”. Though the international soccer regulatory body did not name the “third parties”, the obvious inference was to India’s Supreme Court. On August 10, the Supreme Court-appointed CoA had sought contempt proceedings against former AIFF president Praful Patel and six state associations accusing them of indirectly stalling the apex court-ordered elections for the governing body.
The Centre had also pleaded for modification of the order passed on May 18 and the subsequent directions passed on August 3, on the ground that India may otherwise be stripped of the right to host the Under-17 women’s World Cup. On August 3, the apex court had directed the CoA to conduct “expeditiously” elections to the AIFF’s “executive body” by incorporating 36 former eminent footballers in the general body along with an equal number of representatives from each State association for the scheduled polls on August 28.
The 36 players would include 24 male and 12 female footballers who had represented India at least in one international event and had retired from the sport two year prior to the ensuing elections.
Besides the 36 ex-footballers, the general body would comprise one representative each from the 36 state associations. The court had further said elections to the new body shall be held in accordance with the National Sports Code guidelines and Article 26 of the draft constitution prepared by the CoA, which, among other things, restricts the maximum tenure of an office-bearer to six years followed by a two-year cooling period.
The stipulation is modelled on similar guidelines framed by the Justice R.M. Lodha committee for office-bearers of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the state cricket associations.