From Our Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Wednesday sought the top court’s nod for contempt proceedings against former union minister Praful Patel as the former president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and officials of seven state associations, accusing them of indirectly stalling the court-ordered elections of the federation.
The plea filed by CoA said after the apex court on August 3 had recorded the consensus among the various parties to first conduct the elections to the AIFF in a time bound fashion and then to finalise the constitution, the state associations have attempted to resile from the same, but indirectly.
“The evidence enclosed with this contempt petition would show that Praful Patel, who had been removed as President of the AIFF, has consistently abused his position as a Council Member of FIFA to orchestrate a campaign among the State Associations to undermine the various steps taken by this court for the betterment of football, including having footballers involved in governance and administration,” said the plea.
It added that as recently as on August 6 the very deponents before this court on behalf of the state associations have participated in meetings conducted by Patel where he impliedly admits that letters threatening suspension from the FIFA-AFC have been obtained to “help” them, and that the government is convinced to seek a review of the order fearing the worst.
“It is clear that the government has been misled by the State Associations, as have FIFA-AFC who are ignorant of the duplicitous role being played by Patel. Although many steps have been taken towards the elections, this court appointed Committee seeks that measures be taken (as was done in the BCCI case) to prevent those who endanger Indian football from interfering with the court’s monitoring of the process. Hence, the present contempt petition,” added the plea.
The CoA said the primary cause for the present contempt petition, is the continuing central role of Patel, former President of AIFF, who has impliedly admitted to having arranged for the letter from FIFA-AFC, and has conducted a meeting of the 35 intervening member associations on August 6, 2022 with the express purpose of interfering with the proceedings of this court.
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