Delhi High Court asks Praful Patel to step aside as AIFF chief

The Delhi High Court yesterday set aside the election of Praful Patel, who was last year elected as the president of All India Football Federation (AIFF) for a four-year term, his third successive tenure.

AIFF president Praful Patel

Fresh elections now
The court set aside the elections saying they were held without following the National Sports Code. It also directed that fresh elections be conducted within a period of five months. A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Najmi Waziri also appointed former chief election commissioner (CEC) SY Quraishi as an administrator to look into the functioning of the AIFF. The court's order came on a plea by advocate Rahul Mehra contending that the elections of the federation were held contrary to the National Sports Code. Patel, former civil aviation minister, was elected for the post in December last year along with the Executive Committee for the term 2017-2020 after the high court had vacated a stay on elections.

AIFF mulls action
AIFF said it will wait for the detailed judgement to decide its future course of action. "AIFF is not aware of the reasons of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court to pass this order. Once AIFF receives the copy of the Order from the Hon'ble High Court, AIFF will decide the course of action in accordance with the law," a statement from the AIFF said. "AIFF is aware that earlier today the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has pronounced its judgement in the matter which was earlier reserved on May 12, 2017. AIFF understands that the Hon'ble court has to make certain corrections, after which the order would be made available to the parties. The Hon'ble High Court also directed to amend the AIFF Constitution to make it compliant with the National Sports Code," it added. The AIFF said it conducted its election under the supervision of a retired HC Judge, who acted as the Returning Officer.