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Supreme Court directs Committee of Administrators to conduct AIFF Committee elections expeditiously

Read Time: 04 minutes

Synopsis

The order has been passed in a plea filed by the All India Football Federation challenging the Delhi High Court order staying the fresh elections of the committee.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Committee of Administrators (CoA) to conduct All India Football Federation elections expeditiously as per the timeline suggested by CoA and in consonance with the Sports Code and the Football Federation's draft Constitution.

A bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala clarified that this will be an interim arrangement till the new constitution is implemented. 

The court was hearing a plea filed by the All India Football Federation challenging the Delhi High Court order staying the fresh elections of the committee, in addition to this, the bench was also considering an intervention application alleging that a committee is continuing illegally for over a decade.

Earlier, the Court had orally assured that on the next date of hearing, it will ensure that a democratically elected body will be put in place in time for the Under-17 Women's world cup that is to take place in October 2022.

Today, while pronouncing its order, the bench noted that in order to facilitate the conduct of the Under-17 Women's world cup, it was general consensus for the Court to give directions to conduct AIFF committee elections.

The bench while pronouncing its order directed:

  1. Election of the AIFF should be conducted expeditiously;
  2. The election shall be conducted in consonance with Article 26 of the Constitution;
  3. This would be an interim arrangement till the new constitution is implemented;

The Court has further directed CoA to continue to have oversight over the elected committee and the committee would only be permitted after the order of this Court.

In May 2022, the apex court appointed a committee consisting of Justice Anil R Dave (Retired Supreme Court Judge), Dr. SY Qureshi (former Chief Election Commissioner of India), Mr. Bhaskar Ganguly (former Captain of the Indian Football team) to take up the administration of the All India Football Federation as an interim measure.

(The story will be updated once the order is uploaded)

Case title: All India Football Federation Vs Rahul Mehra & Ors

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