New Delhi: The Delhi High Court set aside Tuesday the election of Praful Patel, who last year was elected as the president of All India Football Federation (AIFF) for a four-year term for not following the national sports code. It also directed that fresh elections should be conducted by the body within 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 for the time being.
“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 it will decide the course of action in accordance with the law,” AIFF said in a statement.
The AIFF also said in its statement that it understands that the HC has to make certain corrections after which the order would be made available to all the parties. It also added that the Hon’ble High Court has also directed to amend the AIFF Constitution to make it compliant with the national sports code.
Patel, a former civil aviation minister, served as acting president of the AIFF for one year after long-time head Priyaranjan Dasmunshi suffered a cardiac arrest in 2008. He took over as full time president in October 2009 before being re-elected for the top job in December 2012. He was re-elected unopposed as AIFF president for his third successive term in December last year.
Press trust of India
