Football
AIFF calls executive committee meeting to discuss removal of Shaji Prabhakaran
Despite the Delhi High Court order, AIFF has not invited Shaji to the meeting. The Delhi HC issued a stay order on his termination from services by the AIFF earlier this month.
Shaji Prabhakaran was removed as the secretary generation of AIFF in November 7, 2023.
The Indian football federation (AIFF) summoned an executive committee meeting on Tuesday to discuss the removal of sacked secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran.
The federation, however, has not invited Shaji to the meeting even though the Delhi High Court issued a stay order on his termination from services by the AIFF.
Shaji, on his part, expressed his intent to take part in the meeting as he wishes to present his side of the story to the executive body.
''No, I have not been invited to Tuesday's executive committee meeting of the AIFF,'' Prabhakaran told news agency PTI.
''I wanted to be there and present my side of the story. I have even written a letter to the members but even then I have not been invited,'' he added.
The AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey terminated Shaji from the post of secretary general on November 7 last year for "breach of trust" after the former Football Delhi president said that the federation does not have the funds to introduce Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to Indian leagues.
Shaji moved the Delhi High Court challenging the decision of AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey. The court, in turn, in its latest order on January 19, observed that Shaji was sacked by the emergency committee of the AIFF whereas the federation's constitution allows only the executive committee to do so.
As the fiasco continues, Shaji, meanwhile, stated that he remains the secretary general of the AIFF and should be invited to the meeting to explain his side of the story.
''I am still the Secretary General of the AIFF and thus, it is my right to be there and I should be heard by all the members who have entrusted me with this key responsibility," said Shaji, a former FIFA development officer for South Central Asia, in a letter on December 24.
''My sincere request to each of you is that I will be invited to the next gathering of the AIFF members, whether it is an Executive Committee meeting or an Annual General Meeting (or, for that matter, any other formal or informal meetings), whenever it is being planned,'' Prabhakaran wrote in the letter addressed to the members of the executive committee.
''I would like to answer sincerely every question that our hon'ble members might have on their minds or on things where they have been told that I committed something wrong," claimed Shaji.
''If someone wants to destroy my credibility by just making casual, irresponsible and downright false charges without any proof to substantiate them, then do you think I should stand aside and allow it to happen? ''I have never been part of any irregularities in my life and for me, football remains my god,'' he added in the letter.
