AIFF’s new elected body by Sept, says Quraishi

NEW DELHI: A newly elected body of the All India Football Federation should be in place by September end and a modified constitution will be submitted to the Supreme Court by July 15, Committee of Administrators (CoA) member S. Y. Quraishi said on Sunday.

The Supreme Court had on May 18 appointed a three-member CoA headed by former top court judge AR Dave to manage the affairs of the AIFF and form its constitution in line with the National Sports Code and model guidelines. Former Chief Election Commissioner Quraishi and ex-Indian football team captain Bhaskar Ganguly are the other members of the CoA.

“The election process will take six to eight weeks to complete. Then by the end of September, a newly elected body should be in position,” said Qureshi.

“The CoA, led by myself, has submitted a draft constitution after long deliberation to the

Supreme Court which was not accessible to the public for a long time. “However, now that the SC has asked the draft constitution to be made public, we are also looking for suggestions and feedback on the same. Taking these into consideration, we expect to submit a modified version of the Constitution by July 15.” Quraishi and Ganguly were made administrators by the SC in 2017 to formulate the constitution of the AIFF in consonance with the National Sports Code. They had submitted a draft constitution to the SC in a sealed cover in January 2020.

“Hopefully, by July 21, we will have an approved constitution as there are various notices and clarifications on the electoral role.

“After that, we will convene the election as quickly as possible. The election process will take six to eight weeks to complete. Once the newly elected body is in place, our work is done and the CoA goes home. Our task is to finish it as quickly as possible,” Quraishi said.