Chief Justice (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna on Monday (January 26, 2025) recused himself from hearing two separate petitions related to finalizing the constitutions of the Indian Olympic Association and All India Football Federation. Both constitutions were drafted by former Supreme Court judge L Nageswara Rao.
At the beginning of the proceedings, CJI Sanjiv Khanna said that he would not be part of the bench hearing these cases as he had earlier heard one of these petitions in the Delhi High Court. Justice Sanjay Kumar was also included in the bench. Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, ‘Let the petitions come before the second bench headed by Justice PS Narasimha on February 10. I remember that I had heard this in the Delhi High Court.
These petitions were last heard on March 19, 2024 by the then CJI D.Y. The hearing was conducted by a bench headed by Chandrachud. After that, the bench allowed the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to register its objections to the draft constitution proposed by Justice Nageswara Rao. The bench had also said that it would decide on the issues raised regarding the constitutions of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and AIFF on the next date of hearing.
While considering the petition related to AIFF, the bench had said that the report presented by Justice Rao will be distributed by amicus curiae Gopal Sankaranarayanan among all the parties who want its soft copy. The bench had directed that AIFF’s objections to the draft constitution should also be recorded.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had extended the time for filing objections to the draft constitution of IOA. The court had also made it clear that during the pendency of the petitions related to IOA, the High Court will not be prevented from continuing hearing the pending petitions related to other sports bodies. The draft constitution of IOA was adopted at the special general meeting in Delhi.
The IOA accepted the draft constitution prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but many members said they were forced to adopt it after the Supreme Court made it mandatory. The Supreme Court had also urged Justice Nageswara Rao to prepare a comprehensive report on finalizing the AIFF constitution after taking note of the objections raised by various stakeholders, including FIFA, the apex global body governing football, on the draft document.
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