AIFF Deputy General Secretary's Contract Expires?

It is reliably learnt that the contract of All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) deputy general secretary, Colonel Gautam Kar has expired at the end of last month.

It was in October last year that he was appointed at the esteemed post and had received an appointment letter which stated that he must take over the mantle officially starting November 1st 2008.

The minimum criterion for the position was to have a background in sports administration and be between the age group of 40 to 50 years. The work profile of the post includes implementation of the decisions and policies of the Executive Committee, administration of the Secretariat and supervision of the staff in performing their duties and development of the Indian FA.

At the time of appointment, Kar's age was 52 while he hardly has any credible background in sports administration which goes on to prove that he was given a backdoor entry. There are no provisions in the AIFF Constitution to appoint a deputy general secretary as such.

Kar was offered a year’s bond and that hasn’t yet been renewed on paper, as verbal assurances carry no weight and hence, are never good enough. When questioned as to whether his agreement with the Indian FA had indeed expired, Kar came up with a dippy response.

“Is it of concern to you?” said the AIFF deputy general secretary or the ex if we may say, failing to realise that the post he occupies is a public one and the Indian football fraternity has every right to question as it directly concerns how Indian football is being run.

On being told that the matter is of concern, he came up with the most customary response of passing the buck over to the Indian FA general secretary.

“In that case, speak to the general secretary,” said Kar.

Even after his appointment with the Indian FA, it is learnt that Kar continued his match commissioner duties with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and has had at least 10 to 15 assignments so far, which means to be out of office for a minimum of four to five days on each trip. Now which professional organisation on earth would allow this?! Interestingly, Kar is one of the shortlisted candidates for the post of the AIFF general secretary.

The I-League teams have been questioning what the Indian FA has done to improve the standard of refereeing in India. And in case, they aren’t aware Colonel Kar and Ravishankar ‘review’ the referees performances!

“Referees performances are monitored closely by Col. Kar and Mr. Ravishankar.  The video footage and match reports are reviewed.  Any mistake is brought to the notice of the concerned referee/assistant referee.  The appointment committee is also kept in the loop,” Alberto Colaco had earlier told Goal.com.

Next time, if a team has to vent their ire they know where to direct it. Who knows, they might get a response like...any guesses?!

“Is it of concern to you?!” 

Rahul Bali.