Information procured by a football enthusiast in Dehradun under Right To Information Act has revealed lack of monitoring mechanism adopted by the country’s apex football body-the All India Football Federation (AIFF)- to access activities of its affiliated State associations.
The AIFF which came into being in 1937, after facing a large number of RTI queries has now assured formation of guidelines for activities of States-which will be implemented after approval of executive committee.
Raju Gusain from Dehradun had filed an RTI application to the AIFF in July 2013 seeking information on process adopted for checking activities of its affiliated units. The query sought information on article 14 of the AIFF which states that state association should conduct state and district leagues among its clubs.
According to Gusain, “AIFF failed to provide the sought information after which I approached the Central Information Commission, where the hearing took place in New Delhi on February 17. After pressure from CIC, the AIFF dispatched a reply to me 18 long months after my application was submitted.
The AIFF has admitted that it is in the process of formulating the guidelines to monitor the activities of the states, which would be implemented after due approval of the competent body (executive committee). As on date the constitution of the AIFF is the guiding force to deal with member associations.”
The football enthusiast from Doon further states that the AIFF constitution provides affiliation to state unit on condition that it host the state league regularly and their district units too conduct the local league. State association should have 10 affiliated district units- each with minimum six affiliated clubs.
The RTI application had sought information about the mechanism followed by the AIFF to assess how the constitutional norms are followed by state association and ways adopted to monitor the activities. Gusain further said that he is not satisfied with the reply provided by the AIFF and will be making an appeal to the CIC under section 19 of the RTI Act.