Supreme Court reserves verdict over All Indian Football Federation constitution

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on the issue of finalisation of All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) draft constitution prepared by former apex court judge L Nageswara Rao.

A bench comprising Justices P S Narasimnha and Joymalya Bagchi heard a host of senior lawyers including Ranjit Kumar, Rahul Mehra and amicus curiae Gopal Sankaranarayanan before reserving the judgement.

The bench heard clause-wise objections to the draft constitution raised by various state football associations and former players for several days.

The draft constitution, prepared by Justice Rao on top court's directions, proposed some radical changes, including a person holding the office for a maximum period of 12 years during their lifetime subject to serving a maximum of two successive terms of four years each.

While it said a cooling off period of four years had to be observed after eight years as an office bearer of the sports body, the draft said a person couldn't remain a member of the sports body after attaining 70 years of age.

Under the draft constitution, the executive committee of the AIFF would have 14 members, who would be under the age and tenure restrictions.

There will be one president, two vice presidents (a man and a woman), one treasurer and 10 other members, it added.

Of the 10 other members, five would be eminent players including two women.

The draft constitution also has provisions for the removal of the office bearers, including the president, through a no-confidence motion which the existing constitution of the AIFF does not have.

The top court reserved its verdict after commencing the hearing on March 25 on the issue.

Senior advocate Sankaranarayanan previously referred to important clauses of the AIFF’s constitution and said some members and former players objected to certain clauses.

The top court then asked former apex court judge Rao to prepare the constitution of the AIFF.

The bench subsequently took note of the draft constitution and asked Justice Rao to prepare a report after taking note of the objections of several stakeholders to the various constitutional schemes.

The bench was hearing a plea related to the finalisation of the constitution of the AIFF after taking note of objections of the stakeholders from the realm of football in the country.

The bench took note of Sankaranarayanan's submissions that in certain respects, the suggestions to the draft constitution were accepted except those "in breach of either the judgements of this court or the national sports code".