new delhi: As the National Sports Governance Bill is set to become a law, the country’s national federations and Indian Olympic Association President P T Usha on Tuesday welcomed the landmark policy, calling it a step in the right direction as India gears up to bid for the 2036 Olympics.
The Bill, which is set to become a law after being passed in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, aims to revamp and standardise India’s sports administration, creating a clear framework for good governance in the National Sports Federations (NSFs) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
India will thus join countries like the USA, UK, China, and Japan in having formal laws for streamlined sports administration.
“It’s certainly good since it will make things pretty straight forward in the sense that there will be no ambiguity now. The same set of rules and regulations will have to be followed by everyone. No different rules for different people as was the case before,” All India Tennis Association (AITA) interim secretary Sunder Iyer said.
Iyer though felt that limiting the seats on the Executive Committee is not an ideal situation. “India is a big country, so restricting the EC to 15 members will be tough to follow. At least 4-5 seats will go to sportspersons of extraordinary merit and members of the athletes’ commission, so practically out of 36 states, you can have only 10-11 in EC. It is quite tough, this should have been looked into, the number should have been more,” he added.
A key provision in the Bill is establishment of a National Sports Tribunal, which will have the powers of a civil court to decide disputes ranging from selections to elections involving federations and athletes. Once constituted, the Tribunal’s decisions can only be challenged in the Supreme Court.
“It is a great Bill, in line with the PM’s vision for the 2036 Olympics. “It will reduce the number of legal cases in federations and allow sports to prosper. It will also save needless expenditure on prolonged court battles,” said Indian Weightlifting Federation President Sahdev Yadav.
Athletics Federation of India spokesperson Adille Sumariwalla called the policy “the need of the hour.”
“This will bring better governance to NSFs. Almost all the NSFs are affected by court cases. Elections are challenged in every second court of law. Many courts have little idea (about sports). Different courts have given different judgments in the same matter, which makes things even more complex. One judgment for BCCI, one for IOA, one for AIFF,” he said.
Hockey India president Dilip Tirkey called the bill’s passage a watershed moment. “This is a historic day. India’s sporting world is anchored by a clear, athlete-centred, and transparent legal
framework,” he said.