The Delhi High Court, on Monday, ruled that all judicial committees of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), formed during the tenure of the federation president Kalyan Chaubey, must be reconstituted.
The court’s observation came while hearing a writ petition after it was revealed that the AIFF’s acting secretary general, Satyanarayan M, admitted during an executive committee meeting, dated July 20, 2024, that the federation had no knowledge of how these judicial bodies, including the Appeals, Disciplinary, Player Status, and Ethics Committees, were originally formed.
Members unaware
In its ruling, the Delhi HC noted, “The Acting General Secretary added that neither the President, Vice President, Treasurer, nor other Executive Committee members were aware of how the previous secretary-general (Shaji Prabhakaran) constituted independent committees. In this regard, the house suggested to consider reconstituting these committees namely AIFF Disciplinary, Appeals, Player Status and Ethics Committees.”
These committees had been constituted by former Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran, who was removed from his post on November 8, 2023.
Notably, it took nearly two years for this oversight to come to light.
Several controversial decisions have been made by these committees over the last several months, including an INR 4 crore fine imposed on Kerala Blasters for walking off the field during an Indian Super League (ISL) match against Bengaluru FC in 2023.
Another notable decision was made in September when the Player Status Committee (PSC) banned Anwar Ali from playing official matches for four months and fined the player, East Bengal, and Delhi FC INR 12.9 crore for allegedly violating a tripartite loan agreement with Mohun Bagan Super Giant.
The Delhi High Court, however, overturned the PSC’s ruling, terming it as unenforceable, due to the committee’s failure to provide sufficient justification for its sanctions.
Ranjit Bajaj, owner of Delhi FC, weighed in on the matter stating that committees were to be appointed.
“According to their constitution, the Exco was supposed to appoint the committees. It was not supposed to be appointed by one man. All the people appointed here have been appointed by the president without asking or taking consent of the Exco,” Bajaj told The Bridge.
“On top of that, we got proof that in the last Exco minutes of the meeting, the acting secretary general, clearly said the committees are illegal, which basically has proven that Exco members – president, treasurer and the former secretary general – did not keep anybody in the loop about forming these committees. That is why the Delhi High Court said all the committees need to be formed again,” he added.
“In his own admission, Satyanarayan said all committees formed illegally. This means all the decisions these committees have given over the last few months are illegal and unstructured including their legal actions like the Rs 4 crore fine they gave on Kerala Blasters,” Bajaj stated.
AIFF prone to civil and criminal cases
Bajaj further said that the Delhi High Court’s ruling exposed the AIFF to potential civil and criminal cases, as clubs and individuals impacted by these “illegal” committee decisions could now drag the federation to the court of law.
Mind blowing revelation in the Honbl High Court today in Delhi FC Writ petition-every judicial committee of AIFF @IndianFootball (Appeals/ Disciplinary/ Player Status/ Ethics) is illegal -as per the admission of acting secy general in Exco meeting 20.07.24- all committees were… pic.twitter.com/Wrubo5wWZc
— Ranjit Bajaj (@THE_RanjitBajaj) October 21, 2024
“Over 200 life-altering and financial decisions have been issued by these committees, which spells serious trouble for the AIFF,” Bajaj posted on X.
The Delhi HC, meanwhile, asked the AIFF to provide affidavits explaining the situation, and further updates are expected once the court’s full order is published.