Football
Supreme Court terminates CoA appointed to look after AIFF, defers elections
In order to revoke the FIFA ban, the Supreme Court of India has terminated CoA and ordered the acting general secretary to look into daily affairs.
Supreme Court orders to terminate CoA and defer AIFF elections in order to revoke the FIFA ban on AIFF.
The Supreme Court directed on Monday that the Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed to oversee affairs of All India Football Federation should cease to exist.
A bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud also ordered that the day-to-day affairs of the AIFF shall for the time being be managed by the secretary general of AIFF who has already been chosen by the 36 state associations.
The Committee of Administrators (COA), currently running the AIFF, will cease to exist once the Secretary-General takes over, as the Court made clear.
The order was passed to facilitate the revocation of suspension of AIFF by the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and to ensure that the prestige of hosting the Under-17 Women's World Cup in India is not affected.
Directions passed by Supreme Court during the hearing:
- The election programme, fixed in pursuance of the order dated August 3, 2022, is permitted to be modified by extending the date of the election by a period of 1 week. The returning officers should re-fix the modalities from the stage the polls had already reached;
- The voter's list for the ensuing election shall consist of representatives of 36 State associations;
- The returning officers appointed shall be deemed to be appointed by this Court. Since no objection has been recorded against them by any of the parties arguing this matter;
- The day-to-day matters of the AIFF shall be looked into by the Secretary-General exclusively. CoA shall cease to exist after Secretary-General takes over;
- CoA has already submitted the draft Constitution along with the tabulations for implementation. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan will assist SC as Amicus Curiae regarding this along with Samar Bansal.
- The EC of AIFF shall consist of 23 members (17 including the treasurer will be elected by the electoral college of 36); (6 members shall be drawn from eminent players).
Earlier, the Government of India wrote a letter to Supreme Court stating that India shall go ahead to meet the demands of FIFA so that they don't lose out on the prestige of hosting the U-17 Women's World Cup.
