Salient Features of Sports Legislation
The new sports minister has put up a draft sports legislation bill which is already submitted in the budget session of Parliament for passing.
The epoch-making piece of work, if passed by the parliament, will reform the sports bodies in India. It is therefore felt necessary to bring the salient features of the bill to our readers
1) Retirement age for members as 70 years, inclusion of athletes in the decision making process, ensure that 25% of the membership and voting powers is held by athletes
The Union Minister of Sports shall not be eligible to contest for post in NOC or NSF.
Restriction on the term of Office Bearers to two terms of four years each and restrictions of concurrent holding of positions by Office Bearers in NSFs.
Constitute a National Sports Development Council which is to be headed by an Eminent Athlete. Importantly the control of the Council has also been retained to voice the opinion of the Athletes in India with the Chairperson being an Eminent Athlete. The majority of the voting powers i.e 15 out of 23 in this Council has been retained by members who are not a part of the federations, the Government or the Sports Authority of India.
National Olympic Committee has been made responsible for the conduct of the National Games every 2 years. Most importantly an obligation to record the election by Video Conferencing has been provided so that in case of questions of election dispute it can be resolved through hard evidence.
Set up an office of a Sports Ombudsman (a retired High Court Judge with knowledge about sports law or arbitration with general knowledge of sports). It has also seeks to set up an appellate authority with a representation of a sportsperson and from the Government. All awards of the Sports Ombudsman and Appellate Authority are to be binding as Final Awards under Arbitratio and Conciliation Act 1996. Time limit of one month has been imposed on the Sports Ombudsman and the Appelate Authority to give their decision under the Bill. Additionally provisions have also been made to provide for hearings through video and teleconferencing.
The NSFs have been obligated to submit to the Government their audited accounts, measures taken to combat sexual harassment, doping, age fraud, participation of minorities and disabled. An important obligation has also been imposed to promote excellence in sports through the participation of Elite Athletes.
Only Indian passport holders and NRI’s can represent India. It expressly restricts PIOs and OCIs from representing India.
The concept of one NSF for one sport discipline has been affirmed in Section 7(1).
The NOC is obligated to observe the principles of Olympic charter, Basic Universal Principles of Good Governance proposed by the IOC. The NOC has also been obligated to take permission from the Government before bidding for any major sporting event, since vast government resources of the country are involved in the conduct of such games.
National Code for Prevention of Age Fraud.
The tenure of the members of the National Sports Development Council restricted to four years and that the members shall not be eligible for reappointment.
The NSFs have been obligated to announce their yearly calendar on or before 31 December every year. This would facilitate the athletes to manage their yearly schedule accordingly.
The NOC has been obligated to submit before the Parliament its audited statements, report of activities and measures taken to promote athletes welfare, combat the evil of doping, expeditious dispute resolution, compliance with Right to Information and prevent gender discrimination and harassment of women in sports.
The development and promotion of a individual sports has been retained by the National Sports Federations.
Under Section 5(c)(iii) the Sports Authority of India has been entrusted with the task of evaluating the performances of the athletes and the NSFs with the Long Term Development Plan for Sports in India.
Till now the National Sports Policies served as mere guidelines. The Bill in Section 3 (1)(2) seeks to give efficacy to the National Sports Development Code of 2011 by stating that it has been notified under this Bill.