Embroiled in a contract row, Abinash Ruidas' fate hangs in balance with Indian Football Association today saying he would have to play for East Bengal, even as the winger has hired a Mumbai-based law firm and sought AIFF's intervention.
The state football body at its hearing today referred the case to its disciplinary committee and its secretary Utpal Ganguli said, "Ruidas has to play for East Bengal".
In a missive to the IFA Players status sub-committee, Vidushpat Singhania of Krida Legal had requested the state body to dismiss the present case for "want of jurisdiction" and refer the present dispute to AIFF which is the "proper forum".
Ganguli, however, dismissed the letter and said: "We are not taking that into consideration."
Ruidas was signed by Indian Super League franchise Mumbai City FC at its players draft but East Bengal have claimed that the footballer still had a contract of two more seasons.
Ruidas claimed that he never signed for East Bengal for 2017-18 and they have "forged" his signature.
Writing on behalf of Ruidas, Singhania, Nitin Mittal and Gautam Karhadkar have mentioned that the IFA players status sub-committee does not possess the requisite jurisdiction to deal with the present dispute.
"IFA is a member of the AIF and bound by the statutes, regulations, directives and decisions of AIFF, AFC and FIFA," the letter stated.
It also mentioned the Article 14 of the AIFF Constitution 2017 and said: "IFA is required to submit all players contract issues to the exclusive jurisdiction of the AIFF..."
"Therefore it's abundantly clear that IFA is subject to the rules, regulation and jurisdiction of AIFF and is bound to abide by them.
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