The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will hold its Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) in Itanagar on Sunday, amid an administrative “mess” in the national body in the aftermath of the sacking of its secretary general and its legal head.
The AGM is being held a day after the final match of the National Football Championships for the Santosh Trophy, being organised by Arunachal Pradesh Football Association.
The agenda items listed for the AGM are more or less routine matters, though members can raise issues if accepted by the general house.
The last AGM was held in July 2023 in Bengaluru on the day of SAFF Championships final which India won, and the mood was upbeat at that time.
This time around, the AGM is being held after the controversial sacking of Shaji Prabhakaran as AIFF secretary general and allegations of “corruption” made against president Kalyan Chaubey by former legal head Nilanjan Bhattacahrjee.
Chaubey had, however, termed the allegations as baseless and had served a legal notice to Bhattacahrjee whose service was also terminated by the AIFF earlier this month.
Former captain Bhaichung Bhutia had demanded the resignation of Chaubey, holding him responsible for the “current mess” in the administrative side of the game in the country, following the dismissal of Parabhakaran as secretary general.
However, Bhutia, who is also an executive committee member, is not attending the AGM.
Prabhakaran’s sacking in November last year by the AIFF Emergency Committee for “breach of trust” was initially stayed by the Delhi High Court which held that “the petitioner (Prabhakaran) has been able to make out a prima facie case in his favour that the termination is completely contrary to the procedure as laid down in the Constitution of AIFF”.
The court later gave the federation’s executive committee the liberty to remove him. The AIFF executive committee did the same but Prabhakaran had challenged the “breach of trust” reasoning, on the basis of which the federation dismissed him. The next hearing is coming up in May.
Bhattacahrjee, on the other hand, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that Chaubey worked out “corruption avenues” through non transparent tender process and preferential allotment of tender.
Bhattacharjee also alleged that Chaubey made attempts to “siphon off money from the federation’s exchequer” and used AIFF fund for personal expenses.
On Wednesday, Chaubey served a legal notice to Bhattacharjee, saying the latter’s actions were aimed at damaging his reputation.
The AIFF also asked Bhattacharjee to furnish evidences to substantiate his allegations that dummy cameras were being utilised by the vendor for the production of I-League 2022-23 matches. The federation gave time till March 9.
Bhattacharjee, in his reply sent on Saturday, said that proper procedure should be followed to investigate into the allegations made by him. He said an independent committee made up of experts chosen from the General Body should enquire into the matter.
The AGM is also likely to be presented with the travel and dearness allowance policies of the AIFF, as they have been mentioned by Chaubey in rebutting the allegations made against him by Bhattacharjee.
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