The Supreme Court on Monday passed an order dissolving the Committee of Administrators that were put in charge of handling the All India Football Federation and handed over the reigns back to the federation in an attempt to lift the Fifa suspension.
The apex court directed that the affairs of the national sports body will be handled by the acting secretary general of the AIFF, Sunando Dhar, thereby fulfilling Fifa’s demands.
The court also noted that the AIFF elections will be pushed from the originally scheduled August 28 by a week. It also stated that the AIFF electoral college will consist of representatives of the 36 members representing states and union territories only.
Thanking the Committee of Administrators for their efforts, the Supreme Court terminated the three-member body.
The world football body had suspended the AIFF due to ‘Third Party Interference’ after the CoA worked to increase the representation of former players in the national body to 50 percent – as against the 25 percent recommendation from Fifa. The suspension isolated India, with Gokulam Kerala being the first team to suffer as they were not allowed to compete in the AFC Women’s Club Championship.
Government tells SC that CoA’s mandate is over to lift Fifa suspension, says report
Suspension also meant India no longer had the right to host the U-17 Women’s World Cup that was scheduled to take place in the country in October.
In order to lift the suspension, Fifa made it clear that the CoA mandate had to be repealed in full, and that the daily activities of the AIFF had to be controlled by the AIFF itself.
The Supreme Court’s order on Monday hereby fulfils those conditions.
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