New Delhi: The All India Football Federation has decided to go ahead with its executive committee meeting as per plan on April 7 (Monday), after exploring the idea of postponing it to April 10 (Thursday).
The federation had initially thought of pushing it back by three days once Delhi High Court issued a stay order on appointment of its secretary general Anilkumar Prabhakaran last Wednesday, before scheduling its next hearing on the matter on April 8 (Tuesday).
Since Anilkumar would be ineligible to attend the meeting if it’s held as per the earlier schedule on Monday, the AIFF had informally enquired from executive committee members of their availability on April 10, for an in-person meeting at its headquarters in New Delhi.
But since postponement would mean the AIFF would have to issue a new notice 14 days prior to set the next date for the meeting as per its constitution, thereby delaying the entire process, it was decided to go ahead with it on Monday itself.
“It was never technically postponed. Only a possibility was explored to postpone it,” a person aware of the developments said on condition of anonymity.
Among the agenda up for discussion are budget approval, MOU/agreement/contract signing authority, informing members over contract renewal talks with AIFF’s marketing partners on master rights agreement (MRA), direct entry into I-League and IWL clubs, etc.
Through calls and messages, this information has been circulated among executive committee members by Anilkumar, at the behest of president Kalyan Chaubey.
Questionable moves
The manner in which Delhi High Court stayed Secretry’s appointment has put question marks over the functioning of the AIFF, leading to raised eyebrows within certain quarters of the organisation.
Some even wondered why the entire executive committee shouldn’t take responsibility for granting approval to Anilkumar’s appointment in August 2024 and resign en masse, on the face of debacles one after the other.
After the Delhi HC’s interim judgement, Chaubey chaired a meeting of all head of departments (HoDs) at Football House on Thursday, where he informed that all matters, including grievances, should be redirected to him as long as the secretary remains out.
This despite the presence of a salaried deputy secretary general, who had served as the acting secretary after Shaji Prabhakaran’s ouster in November 2023 till Anilkumar took over in August of last year.
Shaji had challenged his removal, which was attributed to ‘breach of trust’ by the AIFF, on the Delhi High Court too. His plea was clubbed with Bajaj’s case by the court.
On Wednesday, Justice Sachin Datta posed several question’s to AIFF’s counsel over the manner he was shown the door.
The AIFF had initially thought of pushing its executive committee back by three days once Delhi High Court issued a stay order last Wednesday on appointment of its secretary general Anilkumar Prabhakaran Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
