Justice Rao leaves it to SC to take 'suitable view' on two contentious articles of AIFF constitution

New Delhi, Oct 14 (PTI) Justice (retd) Nageswara Rao has left it to the Supreme Court to take "a suitable view" on the two contentious articles of the draft constitution of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in his report submitted to the apex court.

On October 9, the AIFF had approached the SC, seeking a clarification on the two articles -- Article 23.3, and Article 25.3 (b) and (c) -- in view of the objections raised by world football governing body FIFA.

The next day, an SC bench asked Justice Rao, a former judge of the apex court, to submit a report after hearing the stakeholders. During the meeting, the AIFF submitted that Article 25.3 (b) and (c) should not come into effect till the term of the present executive committee expires in September, 2026.

Article 23.3 provides that any amendment to the AIFF constitution shall not be given effect to without leave of the SC. According to Article 25.3 (b) and (c), an office bearer in the Executive Committee of the AIFF cannot hold a position as an office bearer in a member/state association.

Justice Rao, the author of most part of the draft constitution, submitted his report to the SC on October 12 after hearing the stakeholders. He left it to the SC to pass a suitable order to the AIFF's appeal petition but made it clear that he had earlier recommended deletion of both the articles from the draft constitution.

"In the background of the facts..., the Supreme Court may take a suitable view on the disputed points relating to Articles 23.3 and Article 25 (b) and (c)," Justice Rao said in his report submitted to the SC on October 12.

"I have not dealt with all the points raised by the Learned Counsel regarding Article 25.3 (b) and (c) as the grievance of AIFF is restricted to non-implementation of Article 25.3 (b) and (c) till the completion of the terms in September 2026." The SC had on September 19 approved the draft constitution of the AIFF prepared by Justice Rao with certain modifications, and directed the national federation to adopt it within four weeks.

On October 12, the AIFF adopted its SC-approved constitution at its Special General Body Meeting but left out two contentious clauses "pending directions from the Apex court".

In his report, Justice Rao said the immediate concern of the AIFF "appears to be that the majority of office bearers of the AIFF, who are office bearers of member associations, will have to resign from their posts in the member association if Article 25.3 (b) & (c) is implemented".

"The request made by Mr. Siddharth Luthra (AIFF counsel) is that Article 25 (b) and (c) may not be given effect to during the term of the present body which is expiring in September 2026. All the other Learned Counsel including the Amicus opposed the said request of AIFF.

"From the email on record placed before me, it is very difficult to conclude that AIFF had persuaded FIFA to send the emails to enable AIFF to seek for modification of the Constitution." 'Sports Ministry supported AIFF's stand' ======================== Justice Rao further wrote that the sports ministry supported the stand of the AIFF during the October 10 meeting, saying "it's common practice prevalent in other National Sports Federations, where office bearers of state associations are also office bearers in the NSF concurrently".

"Mr. Kunal, Joint Secretary supported the stand of the AIFF. He contended that it is not desirable for an office bearer of the AIFF to resign from their position (s) as office bearers in the said member/state associations." Justice Rao re-iterated his earlier recommendations to delete both Article 23.3 as well as Article 25.3 (b) and (c).

"During meeting with FIFA and AFC officials in July 2023, FIFA and AFC agreed on various issues in the constitution prepared by Committee of Administrators. However, convinced with the firm stand of FIFA on the basis of Articles 14 and 19 of the FIFA statute, I deleted Article 23.3 from the draft submitted to the Supreme Court," he wrote.

"FIFA referred to Articles 14 and 19 in the email dated 09.10.2025 to highlight their viewpoint relating to third party interference. The Supreme Court of India may consider the request made by AIFF for revisiting its findings on Article 23.3 by considering the viewpoint of FIFA." The earlier draft constitution referred to here is the one prepared by the Committee of Administrators (CoA) constituted after former president Praful Patel was ousted by an order of the SC in 2022.

"In so far as Article 25.3 (b) and (c) are concerned, I recommended (earlier) that they should be deleted, as I was of the view that there was no conflict of interest for a person to simultaneously be an office bearer of AIFF and an office bearer of a Member/State Association." PTI PDS PDS AH AH