Kolkata: A city court on Wednesday restrained the All India Football Federation (AIFF) from preventing Mohun Bagan from participating in the I-League.

The city civil court seventh judge Sandip Chaudhury, taking up an ex-parte petition by Bagan after the AIFF deferred its December 15 match against Pailan Arrows, restrained AIFF from taking any decision on the issue without giving Mohun Bagan opportunity of being heard.

The matter would come up before the court again on January 11.

Counsels Gitanath Ganguly and his son Sourav Ganguly, appearing for Mohun Bagan, submitted that AIFF be restrained from taking any arbitrary decision on the violence-marred I-League derby against East Bengal as the former pulled out after the interval with their side trailing 0-1.

Mohun Bagan filed the case before the city court against the CEO of I-League.

According to AIFF`s Clause 22, if a team withdrew in the middle of a match, it would be suspended from the I-League for the current season and the following two seasons unless it was dubbed a `force majeure`.

The FIFA rule states that if a missile of any kind lands on the ground or if a player is injured, then a team has every right to walk off.

However, in this case, Mohun Bagan played out the stoppage time in the first half after Syed Rahim Nabi was hit.

PTI