BREAKING| Centre Mentions FIFA's Suspension Of AIFF Before Supreme Court; Case Hearing Tomorrow

The Central Government on Tuesday mentioned before the Supreme Court the matter relating to the suspension of All India Football Federation (AIFF) by the FIFA.

Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta submitted before a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna that "some development" has taken place in relation to AIFF and requested that the matter be heard tomorrow itself.

The bench informed the Solicitor General that the case is listed as first item tomorrow. Though the SG did not expressly mention the suspension of AIFF, he told the bench that he will circulate the FIFA press release so that the bench gets idea about the development.

The FIFA has suspended the All India Football Federation (AIFF) with immediate effect citing "undue influence from third parties". This means that India will not be able to host the FIFA Under 17 Women's World Cup, which was scheduled to be held in October 2022.

In a press statement, the FIFA said that the suspension will be revoked once the order appointing the Committee of Administrators to assume the powers of the AIFF Executive Committee is repealed.

It may be noted that the Committee of Administrators was constituted under the orders of the Supreme Court in 2017 after the Delhi High Court set aside the election of former Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel as the AIFF President.  It had also appointed former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and former Indian football team captain Bhaskar Ganguly as a committee of administrators to bring the AIFF's constitution in sync with the National Sports Code. In May 2022, the Supreme Court had appointed former SC judge Justice AR Dave as the head of the COA.

On August 3, 2022, the Apex Court passed directions for conducting elections for the AIFF Executive Committee ahead of the hosting of the U-17 women's world cup by India.

After that order, the Committee of Administrators moved a contempt petition alleging that Praful Patel was liasoning with FIFA to undermine the hosting of the U-17 women's world cup.

Last week, when the matter came up, the Additional Solicitor General, appearing for the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Development, sought adjournmnet saying that a meeting with FIFA was scheduled on August 11.

While adjourning the matter as per Centre's request, the Court then made it clear that it will not hesitate to interfere if attempts are made to scuttle the hosting of the FIFA tournament by India.