New Delhi: The All India Football Federation has been decided to postpone its upcoming executive committee meeting after Delhi High Court issued a stay order on appointment of Anilkumar Prabhakaran as its secretary general.
The AIFF had scheduled its next executive committee on April 7 at is headquarters in New Delhi but had to drop it after Justice Sachin Datta observed on Wednesday that Anilkumar’s appointment in August 2024 needs to be reviewed while hearing a plea that challenged it.
Petitioner Delhi FC director Ranjit Bajaj dragged the AIFF to Delhi HC, pointing out the appointment is in violation of the National Sports Code.
“He (Prabhakaran) is illegally holding the position of secretary general of respondent number 1 (AIFF) despite previously having held a position as an elected member of the executive committee. On August 22, 2022, he was elected as a member of the executive committee of respondent number 1,” the petition said.
Anilkumar was an elected member of the executive committee before resigning and taking up the salaried job of secretary general, which Bajaj’s counsellors Rahul Mehra and Shivam Singh argued was unconstitutional, leading to the stay order till the case is again heard on April 8.
“We will continue with the hearing next week but in the meantime there has to be a stay. I will pass an interim stay (order). List on April 8 for further arguments in the matter,” Justice Datta ruled after hearing the plea on Wednesday.
The interim judgement compelled AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey to call a meeting of all head of departments (HoDs) at Football House on Thursday, where he insisted on all matters, including grievances, to be redirected to him.
While Anilkmar didn’t turn up on Thursday, deputy secretary general Satyanarayan M was present at the office where it was decided that next Monday’s executive committee meeting would be postponed, possibly to April 10 (next Thursday).
Informal enquiries to Ex-Co members were made before deciding the tentative date to be April 10, in anticipation of the Delhi HC reinstating Anilkumar in his position. Finalisation of the date and time of the executive committee meeting could be done on Friday.
In secretary’s absence from duty due to the High Court order, AIFF constitution states the salaried deputy secretary general to be the signing authority on day-to-day administrative matters though
Satyanarayan is yet to be formally apprised.
Satyanarayan was the acting secretary after Shaji Prabhakaran’s ouster in November 2023 till Anilkumar too over in August of last year.
Pending fees
Apart from the plea against him in Delhi HC, a complaint against Anilkumar is also pending in AIFF’s ethics committee, as is a grievance against Chaubey.
But the ethics committee, chaired by retired judge Satish Chandra, is yet to convene to hear these complaints.
News9 Sports understands that AIFF is yet to pay Chandra his dues for attending two-three prior hearings, which has been pointed out as a pre-requisite to conduct future hearings.
The AIFF has shelled out a sum of Rs 90,000 as part of ‘miscellaneous expenses’ so far, but is yet to pay Chandra’s fees despite providing assurances to look into the matter.
The ethics committee members are aware of the complaints raised and it remains to be seen when the AIFF asks it to conduct its next hearing.
The AIFF had scheduled its next executive committee on April 7 but had to drop it after Delhi HC observed that Anilkumar P’s appointment as secretary general in August 2024 needs to be reviewed while hearing a plea challenging it. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
