NEW DELHI: A stop-gap arrangement before becoming a full-fledged head of All India Football Federation in 2009, Praful Patel ruled the national sports body with an iron hand, often muzzling dissent, and beyond permissible tenure before he was ultimately forced out of office by the Supreme Court.
Patel's third term in office was to end in December 2020 but he clung to a SC case, which remained pending since 2017, to extend his executive committee's term while refusing to hold elections till the issue of a new constitution was settled by the top court.
