New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- The Supreme Court on Friday approved the draft Constitution for the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to herald a new era for Indian football, one based on fairness, transparency, and accountability while permitting the existing Executive Committee led by President Kalyan Chaubey to complete its tenure, which will end in September next year. Suggesting changes in some key provisions of the constitution, finalised by former Supreme Court judge, justice L Nageswara Rao, the top court directed the AIFF administration to call for a special general body meeting within four weeks and adopt the draft Constitution with the modifications proposed by the court. The bench of justices PS Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said, "We are of the firm opinion that the Constitution, once adopted in terms of Article 84, will mark a new beginning for Indian football and take the sport to greater heights." The court passed the order while dealing with an appeal filed by AIFF in 2017 challenging a decision of the Delhi high court which set aside the AIFF elections holding it to not be in compliance with the National Sports Code (NSC) of 2011. The top court had in November 2017 stayed the HC order as it formed a committee of administrators to run the AIFF till the global football body FIFA decided to suspend the membership of AIFF. Fresh elections were held and an Executive Committee took charge even as the court appointed amici curiae - senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Samar Bansal to assist in the framing of Constitution. The task of finalising the document was given to former Supreme Court judge L Nageswara Rao, who submitted a draft Constitution, which has now been approved with modification after receiving suggestions from amici curiae, state football associations, eminent football players, the Centre, AIFF, sports enthusiast Rahul Mehra (who filed the petition in the high court) and other stakeholders. Harping on the unifying role that sports plays in the country by bringing together individuals from diverse social, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds under a common pursuit, a bench of justices Narasimha and Bagchi underlined that it is through sports that the Constitutional objective of fraternity is realised and to this end, sports must remain accessible to all and not a privilege of the few. The bench said, "Accessibility of sports is important, for when opportunities to participate are open to all - irrespective of race, caste, religion, sex, or economic status - the unifying power of sport is amplified. This inclusiveness ensures that sports become not a privilege of the few but a medium through which fraternity is strengthened across society." "Sports operationalise what the framers envisioned an intangible yet indispensable force that holds us together through shared effort and common purpose," said justice Narasimha....