MDFA power-struggle halts football leagues in Mumbai

It’s not a new story, but it’s still worth mulling over. While the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) officials play their power-games, it’s the game that suffers — a sorry example to set on a day the government has approved a bid to host the U-17 FIFA World Cup . It’s June already, but none of the MDFA’s five divisions — Elite, Senior, First, Second and Third — have started, and the Charity Commissioner is now looking into the matter. A Mumbai Mirror report says that MDFA Secretaries Everest Gonsalves, Xavier Faria and executive committee members James D’Costa and Shashank Shah received a letter signed by MDFA General Secretary Souter Vaz calling for an Executive Committee Meeting on 6 June claiming that the meeting had been called ‘illegally and contrary to the bye laws and constitution’ as the office-bearers’ term had already ended on 6 March, 2013. [caption id=“attachment_869161” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  It’s June already, but none of the MDFA’s five divisions — Elite, Senior, First, Second and Third — have started. AFP[/caption] However, it seems that the MDFA Memorandum & Rules and Regulations allows Vaz and Co to continue in office six months beyond their term. The rules state that ’the outgoing Executive Council shall remain in office until the termination of the Annual General Meeting at which the election of members to the next Executive Council is held’. Now the matter will only be resolved once the Charity Commissioner looks into it. Vaz was quoted in the report as saying: “In the past there have been instances where the then president would decide the date of the elections after consulting a numerologist. In 2009, the election was delayed by 11 months. We are not doing anything wrong. We are just waiting to file our accounts, which have already been sent to the Chartered Accountant, and then hold the elections.” The same report also quotes MDFA treasurer Uday Banerjee saying that there were a few people with vested interests who wanted to remain in power. It was also revealed that 31 clubs have given the consent for a new election so that the leagues can start as soon as possible. The parties will meet on 14 June for the next hearing at the Charity Commissioner’s office. Click here to read the full Mumbai Mirror report.