New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday terminated the Committee of Administrators (CoA) it set up to manage the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
It also directed the day-to-day affairs of the football body to be looked after by the AIFF administration, headed by the Acting Secretary General.
The world governing body FIFA last week suspended India for “undue influence from third parties (the CoA)” and stripped the country of its right to host the Under-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled for October.
This is the first time the AIFF has been banned by FIFA in its 85-year history.
On Monday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that one of the concerns of FIFA was that the administration and management of AIFF should be conducted by a duly-elected body and not by a third party (CoA) and hence the CoA should be scrapped.
The FIFA statement had said the suspension would be lifted “once an order to set up a committee of administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee has been repealed and the AIFF administration regains full control of the AIFF’s daily affairs”.
The FIFA also wanted an independent electoral committee (RO) to be elected by the AIFF general assembly to conduct the elections of a new executive committee. It wanted the election to take place at the earliest.
Scrapping the CoA Monday, the bench comprising Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and A.S. Bopanna, also extended the election programme by one week from the scheduled 28 August.
The top court hoped its decision would “facilitate the revocation of the suspension of AIFF and the holding of the Under 17 world cup in order to ensure that the prestige of the nation and ability of players to participate in international tournament is not affected”.
On 18 May, the apex court had ousted Praful Patel as AIFF president for not holding elections due in December 2020 and appointed the three- member CoA, headed by former top court judge A.R. Dave, to manage the affairs of the AIFF.
The CoA was also asked to frame its constitution in line with the National Sports Code and model guidelines.
Source: The Print
