Indian Football: CoA submits draft constitution for the AIFF to Supreme Court for clearance

The draft constitution of the All India Football Federation, which has been framed by the Committee of Administrators, has been submitted on Friday, to the honourable Supreme Court for its approval.

Informing this, the AIFF acting general secretary, Sunando Dhar said, “After a lengthy set of discussions with various stakeholders, the draft Constitution of the AIFF has finally been submitted to the honourable court. I hope that with the new constitution in place, we can move ahead with developing Indian football.”

The CoA, which had been appointed by the apex court on May 18, is comprised of Justice (retired) Anil R Dave, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, Dr SY Quraishi and former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly.

The Apex Court directed the CoA to assist the court in facilitating the adoption of the constitution and prepare electoral rolls for the purpose of conducting elections of the AIFF at the earliest.

In June, Fifa and AFC had sent a joint delegation to observe proceedings in India, and gave the national federation until July 31 to get a constitution in place or face the risk of being banned by the international body.

In the course of formulating the draft constitution, the CoA has put in more than 150 hours of work and has spoken to all the AIFF’s stakeholders, including State Associations, Fifa, AFC, the Indian Super League and I-League clubs, and considered suggestions forwarded by them.

“After a lot of deliberation, we have finally narrowed down on a draft constitution that would put the AIFF in line with the National Sports Code, as well as help it function efficiently as a Member Association of Fifa and the AFC,” said Dr Quraishi. “We are confident that with these set of changes, the Federation will now be in a good position to guide Indian football further ahead.”

Justice Dave stated, “We have taken into consideration all the stakeholders involved in Indian football and their respective valued point of views over the newly-framed constitution. We also received some suggestions from football lovers across the country and studied them minutely and seriously.”

Former India goalkeeper and captain Bhaskar Ganguly commended everyone on formulating the draft Constitution on such short notice. “The amount of work that has gone into the draft constitution is indeed commendable. We hope that with these new changes, football in our country will keep growing further than ever before.”