Kolkata, Nov. 11 -- With time running out and clubs likely to play hardball if relegation from the Indian Super League (ISL) is implemented, a desperate All India Football Federation (AIFF) is set to ask the Supreme Court for directions on how to conduct the country's top men's competition after it failed to get a commercial partner. Supervised by the Supreme Court, the bidding process for the 15-year deal ended at 5pm last Friday with no submissions. Retired Supreme Court judge L. Nageswara Rao has been appointed to oversee the process. The bid evaluation committee, chaired by Rao, met on Sunday. The retired judge is expected to submit his report to the court this week. It is likely AIFF will seek to mention the matter in the Supreme Court after that. The ISL season usually starts in September and runs till April. That got stalled because the agreement with current commercial partners, Football Sports Development Limited, expires in less than a month, on December 8, 2025. With no clarity on the immediate future, some clubs, including champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant, have paused operations. The later the league starts, the more difficult it will be to finish the season meeting guidelines for continental competitions of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). AFC mandates that including cup competitions, each team must play at least 24 matches in the season to be eligible for Asian Champions League 2 and the Asian Challenge League, its second and third tier tournaments respectively. India does not have a slot in the Asian Champions League Elite, the continent's top tournament. "The bid document was prepared by one of the world's top accounting firms in line with the constitution approved by the Supreme Court and adopted by AIFF. The document was approved by Justice (retired) Rao who has been appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the process," said a person aware of the developments. Without the apex court's approval, the Request For Proposal (RFP) cannot be re-issued or the sticking points, as per feedback received by the firm appointed for this from prospective bidders, amended, said person mentioned above. All four interested parties including FSDL and an international consortium have pointed out that ISL is unlikely to turn profitable for seven to 10 years. As per the feedback, they are willing to bear the loss but only if they have greater say in the governing council. In keeping with the AIFF constitution, which says the federation will own and operate the top league, the RFP has one slot in the governing council for the commercial partner. Citing the example of the Premier League which, like all other "Top Five" leagues, is autonomous, the bidders who were interested want this changed. Stating that there could be operational issues, they also want a clause in the constitution that says any expenditure above Rs 5 crore needing the AIFF's general body's approval removed. As per the constitution, AGM can be called after giving 30 days' notice. Using the example of USA, whose men's team have qualified for all but one of the Word Cups since 1990 and whose top league has been closed since inception in 1993, one of the prospective bidders also called for promotion and relegation to not be introduced now. If the majority of the clubs in the 11-year league say they will disband otherwise, ISL, now stalled, will be stopped. AIFF has little leeway here because most clubs lower in the leagues pyramid cannot meet ISL's licensing requirements....