BDFA in a spot after court order

The Bangalore District Football Association found itself in a spot of bother on Saturday after the City Civil Court issued an arrest warrant against its secretary ST Bhoopal for failing to follow a court order passed this March.

The 84-year-old was taken to the court from the Bangalore Football Stadium around 3.00 pm by a bailiff before being released in the evening after the judge recalled the warrant. The judge also set August 6 as the next date of hearing.

The City Civil Court had ordered the Karnataka State Football Association and BDFA to grant affiliation to Modern Boys Football Club in March. While the KSFA and BDFA said they’ve obeyed the order, they failed to inform the court about it, leading to scenes of confusion at the Bangalore Football Stadium.

In March, Modern Boys’ owner Maheswaran Balu, who has been suspended for life by the BDFA for alleged misdeeds, won a near six-year legal (2009-2015) battle that forced KSFA to grant fresh affiliation to his club. The KSFA had stopped accepting Modern Boys’ annual renewal form since 2009. This March, the court found no reason why Modern Boys should not be a part of the association and ordered them to take the club back. “The KSFA sent fresh affiliation forms to Modern Boys after the order,” said advocate Shakeel Abdul Rahman, a KSFA governing council member. “Modern Boys sent back the form with a cheque of Rs 2,500. KSFA accepted the form and returned Rs 1,000 to Modern Boys, saying they’ve been granted associate affiliation and they would have to fill out Form A with details of all their players.”

Irked after being granted only associate affiliation — which while allowing the team to compete in BDFA leagues, doesn’t grant them voting privileges — Balu moved court saying KSFA had failed to follow procedures. He refused to fill out Form A.

“The mistake we did was not informing the court that we have granted affiliation to Modern Boys. As of today 134 clubs are part of KSFA and we’ve adopted a new constitution wherein we only grant associate membership to new clubs. We did that but failed to inform the court,” said Rahman.