SC to hear plea against continuation of committee heading AIFF

Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea of Delhi Football Club alleging the illegal continuation of a committee and Praful Patel as president of All India Football Federation (AIFF) for over a decade. A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana was told by lawyer Prashant Bhushan that an illegal committee is continuing to head the AIFF due to the non-hearing of a petition of the football body against the 2017 decision of the Delhi High Court. "In 2017, the last election of the football federation was set aside by the Delhi High Court.

When an SLP was filed in this court, this court appointed a committee headed by former election commissioner and sports secretary S Y Quraishi to prepare a Constitution for AIFF in accordance with the sports code. Even that has been done long ago..," Bhushan told the bench which also comprised justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli. Because of the non-hearing, the same illegal committee has been continuing at the helm for over the last 10 years, he said, and sought a hearing next week.

"Ok, we will see," said the bench. An interim application was filed by the Delhi Football Club in the pending appeal before the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Sports Ministry filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that Praful Patel has no mandate to continue as AIFF president as he has already served three terms and the national body should hold elections without further delay.