HC’S NOTICE SEEKS GOVT AND SPORTS BODIES RESPONSE ON NATIONAL POLICY

By Praveen Kumar in New Delhi

THE Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the central government, the Sports Authority of India ( SAI), the Indian Olympic Association ( IOA) and 10 other national sports bodies on a public interest litigation ( PIL).

The PIL was filed to seek implementation of the Comprehensive National Sports Policy 2007 and make it binding on all sports associations recognised by the Government of India across the country.

The PIL also sought the setting up of a Sports Regulatory Authority to resolve all complaints regarding financial irregularity, mismanagement in functioning, bias in the selection process, redressal of players’ grievances and undemocratic or unethical electoral practices against the respective sports associations.

The court also directed the sports bodies, including SAI, to file their responses, within one month.

Meanwhile, the petitioner, Rahul Mehra, also filed an interim application for appointment of an independent observer and returning officer for the Hockey India elections, to be held on February 7.

A division bench of Chief Justice AP Shah and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed Hockey India to file a detailed affidavit within a week giving details about steps taken so far for the appointment of these officers for the upcoming elections.

The petition mentioned that no sports federations in the country is headed by an eminent sportsperson.

“ All National Sports Federations ( NSF) are being run by non- technical and non- professional people, who do not have any knowledge.

From the composition of the current office bearers of the IOA, and various NSFs, it can be pointed out that most of their members are persons with little or no experience of having played their respective sports disciplines, be it at the local, domestic, state or international level”, said the petition.

It also accused IOA of sending the same set of observers under the garb of conducting elections for every NSF in a free and fair manner.

It alleged that this is done so as to ensure that only those set of officials come back to power who have lent unconditional support to the IOA in the past.

As per a survey conducted by National Council for Educational Research and Training ( NCERT), between 1978 and 2002, the access to playfields has actually gone down by seven per cent in primary, nine per cent in upper primary and five per cent in secondary and higher secondary schools.

The availability of other sports facilities like indoor halls, gymnasia, equipment etc. is even less than that of basic outdoor playfields.

“ IOA and all the NSFs have completely failed in providing state- of- the- art infrastructure, turfs, coaching and equipment, gymnasiums, physiotherapists, nutritionists and microbiologists, neither for the nation’s existing sports stadia nor otherwise to ensure that they truly support both the game and its fans. Majority of the stadia are lying in shambles”, alleged the petition.

The petition also demanded a direction from the court seeking an independent investigation into the functioning of all the sports bodies across the country.

It also asked for the audit of accounts of all the sports bodies by the Comptroller and Auditor General or any other independent organisation.