Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Monday recused from hearing a batch of pleas relating to the proposals of draft constitutions of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
CJI Khanna recused himself from hearing the petitions filed by IOA and AIFF related to the proposed reforms in the sports associations, stating that he had earlier heard one of the matters as a High Court Judge in Delhi.
When the matter came up for hearing before the Bench of CJI Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, the CJI ordered that the matter be listed for consideration before a Bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha.
In September 2022, the Apex Court appointed its former Judge, Justice L Nageswara Rao, to take over the process of amending the sports body’s constitution, preparing its electoral rolls; and conducting elections to its executive body.
The IOA had challenged the Delhi High Court order which put the affairs of the association in the hands of a Committee of Administrators (CoA) as per the Supreme Court order in the case All India Football Federation vs Rahul Mehra.
AIFF also approached the Apex Court for approval of the final draft of its constitution, after the appointment of Justice LN Rao in 2023 to take over the process of considering the draft Constitution.
In the Rahul Mehra Case, in order to facilitate the holding of elections and handing over the affairs to a democratically-elected body in terms of the constitution of AIFF, the Apex Court had re-constituted the Committee of Administrators of AIFF.
It further asked the Committee of Administrators to take charge of all the affairs of AIFF immediately.
The Bench was today apprised by Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra for the petitioners that the two matters were connected as there were larger reforms, which would affect every single sport in India.
Appearing for 35 State Indian Olympic Associations, Senior Advocate Maneka Guruswamy further apprised the Apex Court that Parliament will consider the National Sports Governance bill in March.
Appearing as an Amicus, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that a report has been filed along with a chart relating to the suggestions for the draft constitutions.
In the previous hearing, the Apex Court had allowed the IAFF to file objections to the draft constitution proposed by Justice Rao. The matter will now be heard on February 10.