BREAKING| Supreme Court Ends Mandate Of CoA To Administer AIFF; Hopes It Will Facilitate Revocation Of FIFA Suspension

In a significant development in the Indian football, the Supreme Court on Monday passed a direction to terminate the mandate of the Committee of Administrators (CoA) - which has been constituted by the Court- to manage the affairs of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).The Court passed this order in the light of the decision taken by the FIFA to suspend AIFF, which construed the functioning of the CoA as a "third party interference"The Court modified the earlier directions relating to the CoA and the elections of AIFF so as to facilitate the revocation of the AIFF suspension and to ensure that India can host the Under-17 women's World Cup in October 2022 as scheduled.The Central Government requested the Supreme Court to end the mandate of the Court-appointed Committee of Administrators(CoA) for the management of the All India Football Federation so as to lift the suspension of AIFF by the FIFA.The Centre made this request to the Court after the negotiations with the FIFA over last week. A bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna passed the following directions to modify the earlier orders :1. The election program is extended by one week.2. The electoral college will comprise the representatives of member associations of States and Union Territories(35+1).3. The returning officers - Shri Umesh Sinha and Shri Tapas Bhattacharya -shall be deemed to be returning officers appointed by this Court, since no objection has been recorded to their continuance by any of the contesting parties.4. The day to day management of AIFF shall be managed by the AIFF administration led by the AIFF Acting Secretary General, resulting in the termination of the mandate of the CoA to be in charge of the affairs of the AIFF.5. The Committee of Administrators has already submitted by the draft Constitution together with a tabulated suggestions on August 15. We request Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan with Advocate Samar Bansal to assist the Court as the amici curiae.6. The time for the completion of election which is ending on August 28 shall stand extended by one week.7. For the purpose of ensuing election, the Executive Committee of AIFF shall comprise of 23 persons (17 persons- inclusive of President, Vice President and Treasurer- who shall be elected by the representatives of 36 member associations from States/UTs) ,6 members shall be drawn from eminent players."The above directions are passed in modification of the previous orders to 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. In the event that the above process is not taken to its logical conclusions, the court will consider subsequent orders", the Court stated in the order.Centre proposes to end CoA mandateThe Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted that the FIFA's suspension of All India Football Federation (AIFF) has two "disastrous" consequences - one, India will lose out of its opportunity to hold the Under-17 women's world cup tournament scheduled in October 2022 and two, Indian players will not be able to participate in international tournaments.SG further submitted that it was examined if India was being discriminated by the FIFA. But it was found that FIFA follows this uniform policy across the world against "third party interferences"."FIFA says uniformly across the world they want the management to be under the hands of an elected body or someone elected by an elected body. Third party interference is not acceptable for them. Second concern they had was regarding the electoral list. FIFA feel that only the representatives of the member states be in the electoral college. There are 36 member associations. Our insistence was that players will have to be part of the administration of AIFF. Right now we proposed that 25% of the executive committee will be eminent players. Third thing is the election program, who will conduct it. The returning officers are selected by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) in their sole discretion. The FIFA has the problem with the people selected by the CoA to be there. So, the same people who are selected as the returning officers by the CoA be deemed to have been selected by the Court. Next concern is that the draft Constitution is not yet ready", the SG said.The SG suggested that the Secretary General, who has been elected by the member bodies, can handle the affairs of AIFF till the elected body takes over and Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was representing the CoA, can continue to assist the Court as an amicus curiae.Senior Advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for the state associations, expressed no objection to the Centre's proposals. Senior Advocate KV Vishwanathan, representing the Football Sports Development Limited, took a similar stand.Stand of Bhaichung BhutiaEx-Indian football team captain...

BREAKING| Supreme Court Ends Mandate Of CoA To Administer AIFF; Hopes It Will Facilitate Revocation Of FIFA Suspension

Sohini Chowdhury

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