The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on August 22 a matter involving the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its marketing partner Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL).
A cloud of uncertainty hangs over Indian football as there is no clarity on when the master rights agreement between the AIFF and FSDL will be signed.
A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar agreed to hear the plea after amicus curiae and senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that during the tenure of the contract, the FSDL has to honour it by conducting the ISL, country's No.1 league.
The contract, signed in 2010, ends on December 8.
On Sunday afternoon, it was notified that the AIFF will mention the matter before the Court on Monday at 10.30 am. But by late evening, the federation notified that it will not mention the matter on Monday.
On Sunday night, Sankaranarayanan informed that he would be mentioning the case along with other Amicus Curiae Samar Bansal on Monday at 10.30am.
Faced with criticism over an apparent flip-flop, the AIFF clarified that it had intended to first apprise the court about the passage of the sports bill before raising the ISL issue.
"While a decision on the date of mentioning was being contemplated, the Amicus Curiae himself sent a communication... The Hon'ble Supreme Court has requested written submissions from the parties prior to the next hearing on Friday August 22," the AIFF said in a statement.