Praful Patel ‘Arranged’ a Letter From FIFA Threatening a Ban on India, Accuses Supreme Court Mandated Panel

Committee of Administrators (CoA) appointed by the Supreme Court of India filed a contempt petition on Wednesday in the apex court against former Indian football chief and NCP leader Praful Patel.

The petition accused Patel of “impliedly” admitting to having “arranged” a letter from world football governing body FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) threatening a ban on India.

In the petition, the CoA has also named seven other Indian football administrators along with Patel for allegedly interfering in the “administration of justice, and the willful and flagrant disobedience” of Supreme Court orders.

ALSO READ | FIFA Suspends Indian Football Federation Over Third-party Influences

The CoA has requested the court to bar Patel from “holding any football related posts forthwith, including and not limited to positions in FIFA and AFC”, where he is a member of the Executive Council and a Vice-President, respectively.

Cause of Contempt Petition

The CoA said in its petition that the primary reason of the petition is Patel’s  continued role, who impliedly admitted to having arranged for the letter from FIFA-AFC, and has conducted a meeting of the 35 Intervening Member Associations on August 6, 2022. The CoA highlighted that meeting was done for the purpose of interfering with the proceedings of the Hon’ble Court.

According to a transcript of the meeting, which is part of the petition, quoted Patel as saying: My feeling is, please trust me. See, I can say only so many things, I cannot speak everything but I can say this much, the purpose of that letter is also to help you.

Other state association members, according to the transcript, thanked Patel who went on to suggest future steps to the officials and added that he did not want India to get suspended. Patel could not be reached for comment on the contents of the petition.

Speaking exclusively to CNN News18, a source close to Patel said, “Praful Patel has no role to play in the current decision, After the contemplation of his tenure as the President, he has neither been involved nor the three parties communicated with each other.”

“In his letter to FIFA, written in May this year, he had requested FIFA to not impose any suspension at this point. He had also requested FIFA and AFC to enter into a conversation with the Committee of Administrators (CoA),” the source added.

The petition comes after the FIFA and AFC, in a letter dated August 5, threatened to suspend India from international football and take away the hosting rights of 2022 U-17 Women’s World Cup. The FIFA and AFC authorities cleared that this is due to the  alleged deviations from the roadmap agreed to conduct the AIFF elections.

However, when AIFF failed to hold elections to appoint a new president within the set timeframe, the Supreme Court had appointed the three-member CoA, comprising ex-Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi, former Supreme Court judge Anil Dave, and former India football captain Bhaskar Ganguly, to look after AIFF while suspending Patel from his role.

The court had also ordered that the elected committee would be an interim body, which would continue for a period of three months.

However, on Monday, fearing a FIFA ban, the Government moved to Supreme Court to file a review application, pointing at the election timelines and the membership structure in the August 3 order.

On the other side, CoA argued that it is clear the Government is being misled by State Associations, as have FIFA-AFC who are ignorant of the duplicitous role being played by Mr. Patel.

While the arguments went on and no firm decision took place, FIFA on Tuesday passed an order to suspend AIFF for “undue influence from third parties” and stripped the country of the right to host the Under-17 Women’s World Cup, scheduled for October.

ALSO READ: FIFA Bans AIFF: Matter Presented Before Supreme Court, Case Hearing on August 17

The apex court on Tuesday sought an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna was told by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, that “important development” has taken place and FIFA has sent a letter suspending India which is in the public domain and needs to be brought on record.The bench told Mehta that the matter is listed for Wednesday and it would try to take it up as a first matter.

This is the first time that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has been banned by FIFA in its 85-year-old history.

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