Supreme Court allows AIFF-elected committees to function; ex-CEC SY Qureshi, Bhaskar Ganguly to act as ombudsmen

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday stayed the order of the Delhi High Court allowing all AIFF elected committees to function on a regular basis, a release issued by the federation stated. [caption id=“attachment_3157532” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The AIFF logo. Twitter/@IndianFootball[/caption] This will effectively allow Praful Patel to continue in his role as the president of the AIFF. The AIFF release stated that Supreme Court also appointed SY Qureshi, former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India and former India football captain Bhaskar Ganguly as ombudsmen to formulate the AIFF constitution within eight weeks. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had set aside the election of AIFF president Praful Patel, who was last year elected as the president for a four-year term, his third successive tenure. The court set aside the elections saying they were held without following the National Sports Code. It also directed that fresh elections be conducted within a period of five months. A bench of justices S Ravindra Bhat and Najmi Waziri also appointed former CEC Quraishi as an administrator to look into the functioning of the AIFF. The courts order came on a plea by advocate Rahul Mehra contending that the elections of the federation were held contrary to the National Sports Code. Patel, former civil aviation minister, was elected for the post in December last year along with the Executive Committee for the term 2017-2020 after the high court had vacated a stay on elections. One of the greatest goalkeepers that India has ever produced, Ganguly captained India to the quarter-finals of the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi. He was an East Bengal legend, having represented the club for a decade. He has also played for Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting. He was also the one who spotted the Bhaiching Bhutia when he went as a spotter for the Sikkim Governor’s Gold Cup.