The Supreme Court on Friday issued a show cause notice to All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey for seeking adjournments in an election petition pending before the Calcutta High Court, stating that he was employing “delaying tactics”.
Plea
The court’s order came on a plea alleging that Chaubey was intentionally prolonging the election petition related to the Maniktala assembly constituency in North Kolkata, which became vacant after the demise of TMC MLA Sadhan Pandey in 2022.
The Bench
A bench of justices Surya Kant and P S Narasimha strongly criticized Chaubey for adopting “delaying tactics” and remarked that even his lawyers appeared to be colluding.
In the show cause notice, the bench requested an explanation from Chaubey regarding why he should not be relieved from his responsibilities as AIFF president and Indian Olympic Association joint secretary to fully focus on the case.
“We are satisfied that respondent number 3 (Chaubey) is employing every possible delaying tactic. His counsels are also colluding and seeking adjournments on various pretexts…We therefore issue a show cause notice to respondent number 3 to expedite the election petition to be heard on a day-to-day basis,” it stated.
“Respondent number 3 is to provide a reason why we should not relieve him of his responsibilities as president of All India Football Association and joint secretary of the Indian Olympic Association through a judicial order. This will allow respondent number 3 to fully concentrate on concluding the election petition proceedings,” the bench added.
It clarified that if Chaubey fails to appear, “we will issue non-bailable warrants as he is deliberately and willfully defying court orders.”
