New Delhi/ Kolkata, Nov 8: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Wednesday announced that it has sacked secretary general Shaji Prabhakaran due to “breach of trust”, a move described as “conspiracy” by the Delhi based sports administrator.
Prabhakaran’s sacking comes 14 months after his appointment to the high-profile job even as the national federation did not mention what the breach of trust was that prompted the action.
“The All India Football Federation hereby announces that the services of Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran have been terminated due to breach of trust with immediate effect as of November 7, 2023,” the AIFF statement read.
“The AIFF Deputy Secretary, Mr M Satyanarayan, will take charge as Acting Secretary General of AIFF with immediate effect,” the statement added.
AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey served the termination letter on Tuesday to Prabhakaran, who was appointed on September 3 in 2022 and took charge on September 6.
The 51-year-old Prabhakaran, however said the decision has no constitutional validity.
In a letter addressed to the AIFF members, Prabhakaran wrote: “As per AIFF Constitution, it is the Executive Committee that can only dismiss or terminate the General Secretary. Thus, this termination has no constitutional validity and approval of the Executive Committee.” Prabhakaran termed it as a conspiracy against him.
“I must say that there must be some conspiracy behind this decision, which I am not able to understand. You, as elected member’s does have the responsibility to ask the right questions to the chair, not for me but for the good of the game,” he wrote in the letter.
AIFF vice-president NA Haris, however, said that the AIFF executive committee members were also not happy with the way Prabhakaran worked.
In a cryptic post on X on Monday night, Prabhakaran had hinted that all was not well within the AIFF.
A meeting of the executive committee has been called here on Thursday and the members are expected to be officially apprised of the development, besides discussing other matters.
Haris said there is no need for the AIFF executive committee to ratify the decision of the president.
Prabhakaran made scapegoat: Bhaichung
Indian football icon Bhaichung Bhutia, who lost a lopsided election last year for the post of AIFF president, on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the governing body’s incumbent president Chaubey while demanding for ‘fresh’ polls.
The former Indian captain’s salvo at the AIFF executive committee comes in the wake of Prabhakaran’s sacking.
Bhutia claimed that Prabhakaran has been made a ‘scapegoat’ by the Chaubey-led body, adding that having an election is the only way to save Indian football.
“The breach of trust should not be on Shaji alone but all the members heading the AIFF, including the president, vice-president and treasurer,” Bhutia said.
“Where has this breach happened, what is this breach everybody wants to know?” Bhutia asked, adding that all the major decisions were taken jointly by the members.
He cited the examples of AIFF’s decision to drop out of race to host the AFC Asian Cup 2027 and also the recent chaotic build-up to the Asian Games in China, where the Indian team reached merely a day before its first match.
“Everytime, the president and secretary together, have taken the key decisions including Asian Games and the withdrawal of bidding to host the Asia Cup,” he said.
“But they are making Shaji a scapegoat here. (The) entire team, president, secretary general, vice-president and treasurer are responsible for this mess. Everyone should go and elections should be held under the new constitution.” “I’m not surprised by the sacking of Shaji. From the time the new management has taken over, there has been huge mismanagement,” Bhutia claimed. (PTI)
