#TFGtake- Delhi High Court sets aside AIFF top brass election - the why, the how & where it's going

IN A MAJOR DECISION THAT may turn Indian football upside down, the Delhi High Court has set aside the election of Praful Patel as the AIFF President.

The election, which happened in December 2016, saw Praful Patel being unanimously re-elected as the president of the Indian FA.

The election process immediately saw protests from many quarters, especially from Goa, with claims that the AIFF top brass was trying to sideline representatives from that state. The election was being held hot in the heels of multiple I-League clubs including Dempo SC, Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa pulling out of the top division league alleging that the Federation had given preferential treatment to the Indian Super League and had no vision for the future of existing top flight clubs.

A petition was filed in the Delhi High Court just ahead of the elections claiming that the process was in breach of the National Sports Code, but on 15th December 2016 the High Court gave it a go-ahead. 

Praful Patel was re-elected President, with the posts of 5 Vice Presidents and 10 Executive  Committee members also being filled; all of them without opposition. A number of ex-Reliance employees entered the system and for the first time in the history of AIFF, there was no Goan representative in the top brass of the Federation.

But the question over whether this election followed the National Sports Code remained. Prominent sports lawyer and activist Rahul Mehra had been on AIFF's tail since 2012, filing a PIL alleging that the AIFF's requirement of five proposers (state associations) to run for the post of President violated the National Sports Code rule that mandated that to run for the post of any national sports federation, one only needs one proposer and one seconder.

The legal battle has been brewing in the sidelines as the AIFF has gone about its business, helping ISL get a provisional recognition from the AFC and hosting a highly successful FIFA U-17 World Cup tournament that broke all previous attendance records. But the Delhi High Court's order today came out of nowhere and swept aside the Federation's existing hierarchy.

The court order has pushed aside the authority of the President and appointed former Election Commission chief SY Quraishi as the AIFF Administrator, whose job will be to ensure the smooth running of the Federation and organize fresh election within 5 months.

With the judiciary deciding to take things in their own hands, things can go a number of ways. 

It's unclear how FIFA will react to this. Mr Praful Patel is a current Vice President of the AFC and has a lot of influence in FIFA, who right now are toasting India and the current AIFF leadership for hosting a great U-17 World Cup. They may see this as the government meddling with the operations of the Federation and may even take steps towards suspending India if things don't resolve soon. Initially, they may decide to issue a deadline for things to be straightened out. If that deadline is shorter than the court's deadline of 5 months, and Mr Quraishi decides not to hurry up and respect that shorter time limit, then things can go from bad to worse. So a lot depends on how FIFA react to this development.

This can also negatively affect the organization of I-League, the top flight league of the country. The other league, ISL, is operated mostly by IMG-Reliance so it will likely go on as planned. But with the I-League fixtures yet to be finalized, things can get really ugly if Mr Quraishi does not treat that with utmost priority. If, in the middle of this turmoil, the Federation fails to smoothly organize the country's top league, India may further incur FIFA's wrath.

The Indian national team may also see their schedules affected. The Asian Cup Qualifiers will go on as planned but if India are to play a couple of good friendlies in March to boost their rankings and prepare for their away clash with Kyrgyzstan, AIFF must begin talking to potential opponents now; and right now not many countries will want to make a deal with this court appointed AIFF administration, especially if FIFA release a disapproving statement regarding this. And AIFF's plan of hosting the inaugural Champions Cup in August 2018 will also run into uncertainties if the Federation can't start the process of recruiting teams for the tournament for another 5 months. 

India's efforts to convince FIFA to grant them the hosting rights of FIFA U-20 World Cup and FIFA Club World Cup will also take a hit.

The other thing to watch out for is how the AIFF's commercial partners, IMG-Reliance, react to this. The 2016 elections were a part of their efforts to expand their direct involvement with the functioning of the Federation. And having the court dismiss the authority of the newly IMG-R friendly Executive Committee members may lead them to not cooperate with the court appointed AIFF Administrator. And since the AIFF's finances are controlled by IMG-R, this can disrupt the Federation's activities at all levels, from top flight to the grassroots.

But things probably won't turn out to be so chaotic. AIFF may be able to get a stay on this order by appealing against it in a higher court. And even if an election does take place, Mr Praful Patel is in a strong position to come back to power. His tenure with AIFF boasts the inking of the mega deal with IMG-R, the arrival of ISL, India playing in one Asian Cup and qualifying for another and rising up in FIFA ranks, a renewed focus on grassroots development as well as hosting the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Most of the others in the top brass, too, will likely get back their positions. It will take a strong coalition from multiple powerful states to take the President down; something which does not seem to exist right now. Even if Goa and a couple of other states come together to oppose him, he is likely to get the victory-clinching support of crucial and powerful state associations like West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, Punjab, Maharashtra and Manipur.

So unless the future springs some surprises the dust will settle without much having change. But the timing of this decision has put one thing in jeopardy; something that cannot wait 5 months to sort itself out... the organization of the I-League 2017-18 season.

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