<p>Mallya’s decision to quit was taken at Mohun Bagan’s Dec 16 board meeting in Kolkata.<br />Prince Rufus, operations manager of Mohun Bagan, said in a statement that Sidhartha Mallya has been appointed as an additional director of the club.<br /><br />“Vijay Mallya has resigned from his post as a Director and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt. Ltd. <br /><br />“His resignation has been accepted with deep regret by the Board of Directors of the Company in a meeting held on 16th December 2010 at Kolkata,” the statement said. <br /><br />An All India Football Federation (AIFF) official said that Mallya had to resign as he was heading both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and AFC was against “cross-ownership” of clubs in a professional league.<br /><br />“According to AFC club licensing criteria, which has to be implemented before the end of the 2010-11 season, no individual or a company can own 50 percent or more stakes in more than one club at a time. So Mallya’s resignation was very much on the cards from one of the clubs,” the official said.<br /><br />Although Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are sponsored by different brands - McDowell and Kingfisher - they belong to the same company, United Breweries Group, owned by Mallya.<br />Siddartha is also in-charge of the Indian Premier League team the Royal Challengers Bangalore, which finished third in the third edition of the T20 league.<br /><br />The AFC, at a meeting with AIFF here in September, had set Dec 24 as the deadline to sort out the “cross-ownership’ issue. <br /><br />AIFF president Praful Patel had said that clubs that don’t fulfil all the criteria by Dec 31 would not be allowed to play in the I-League.</p>
<p>Mallya’s decision to quit was taken at Mohun Bagan’s Dec 16 board meeting in Kolkata.<br />Prince Rufus, operations manager of Mohun Bagan, said in a statement that Sidhartha Mallya has been appointed as an additional director of the club.<br /><br />“Vijay Mallya has resigned from his post as a Director and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Mohun Bagan Football Team Pvt. Ltd. <br /><br />“His resignation has been accepted with deep regret by the Board of Directors of the Company in a meeting held on 16th December 2010 at Kolkata,” the statement said. <br /><br />An All India Football Federation (AIFF) official said that Mallya had to resign as he was heading both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal and AFC was against “cross-ownership” of clubs in a professional league.<br /><br />“According to AFC club licensing criteria, which has to be implemented before the end of the 2010-11 season, no individual or a company can own 50 percent or more stakes in more than one club at a time. So Mallya’s resignation was very much on the cards from one of the clubs,” the official said.<br /><br />Although Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are sponsored by different brands - McDowell and Kingfisher - they belong to the same company, United Breweries Group, owned by Mallya.<br />Siddartha is also in-charge of the Indian Premier League team the Royal Challengers Bangalore, which finished third in the third edition of the T20 league.<br /><br />The AFC, at a meeting with AIFF here in September, had set Dec 24 as the deadline to sort out the “cross-ownership’ issue. <br /><br />AIFF president Praful Patel had said that clubs that don’t fulfil all the criteria by Dec 31 would not be allowed to play in the I-League.</p>