Is sports Bill for reform or control?

WITH an eye on hosting the 2036 Olympics, the Narendra Modi government has tabled the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025, in Parliament to clean out the biggest obstacles it sees in enhancing athlete performance. So, this ‘athlete-centric Bill’ looks at enforcing good governance principles in the national sports federations (NSFs), which the government views as the biggest stumbling block towards realising its ambitious plan to host one of the biggest sporting events in the summer of 2036.

Problem areas

To enforce professionalism, the government has identified a few problem areas that the Bill addresses — frequent litigations, lack of a dispute redressal forum, token athlete representation, gender imbalance, no standard electoral process, poor governance, no legal recognition for a safe sports policy, and limited enforcement of the sports code.

The draft legislation seeks to set up a National Sports Board (NSB), a regulatory body that would have the power to grant recognition or suspend recognition of a national sports federation and its affiliate bodies. Even the mighty Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have to attain yearly recognition from the NSB.

Another striking feature is that all the recognised sports bodies will now be considered as public authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

The Bill also talks of setting up a National Sports Tribunal to deal with all court cases that arise out of infighting within the sports bodies. A senior official said the ministry is currently dealing with over 300 court cases mainly due to election disputes. He added that persons who want to control federations get favourable verdicts from different high courts and that delays the resolution of disputes. Now, all such cases will be handled by the tribunal and appeals against the tribunal’s verdicts will only be heard by the Supreme Court.

The Bill also mandates that all federations should include at least two sportspersons of merit and two from its athletes commission to sit in the executive body. To enhance gender representation, all boards must have at least four women members as part of the executive board.

Further, to streamline the election process, the government will form a National Sports Election Panel from among retired Election Commission officers to conduct elections to all the federations.

The government has also given concession to the federations by relaxing the age and tenure regulations. As per the sports code, no executive committee member can stay in office after 70 years of age.

Under the provisions of the Bill, the administrators can contest till they are 75. Further, the tenure restrictions are only for the offices of president, secretary general and treasurer — and not the entire executive committee.

These concessions have been openly celebrated by the federation chiefs, but they are silent on whether the proposals to set up a sports board or an election panel indicate total government control of sports bodies.

Govt takeover?

The concessions mentioned in the draft legislation have angered lawyer-cum-activist Rahul Mehra, whose litigations had forced the government to include the age and tenure regulations.

In a series of tweets from his X handle, Mehra criticised the Bill as regressive and draconian. “A successful passage of the Sports Bill shall ensure a complete takeover by the Government of India of our sports and not a single voice from any of these NSFs is now being heard on the so-called infringement of their autonomy as they are elated at such a draconian Bill being passed,” Mehra said on July 23, the day the Bill was introduced in Parliament.

Two days later, Mehra said that in effect, the government has done away with the age and tenure guidelines. “If you look at clause 34 of the Bill, it almost does away with the age and tenure guidelines. If you are elected to any international body, all you have to do is seek an exemption from the government. So, even if you are 100 years old, you can still continue as a member of any NSF body,” he added.

Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president PT Usha has already backed the Bill. The IOA joint secretary called it “government cooperation”.

“The government has brought some guidelines and it is not to interfere. If there is any conflict with the international rules, the rules of the international body will prevail. The idea is not to create any confrontation or confusion; the idea is to work together. It is not government intervention but government cooperation. It will be taken on a case-to-case basis,” he said. Usha said all the clauses have been cleared in consultation with the international federations. “Everything is ratified by international bodies and that’s when it has been introduced in Parliament,” she added.

Proxies rule

A number of present and past officials have privately said that the Bill will only consolidate government control.

“Can you fight this government? I cannot, so I have to agree to the Bill. They already control the IOA and a few other federations through their chosen proxies, now everyone will have to fall in line because of the Bill,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

He was hinting at how the government took over the IOA through the appointment of sportspersons of merit. In November 2022, IOA elected its 10-member athletes commission headed by six-time World Champion MC Mary Kom. They then nominated eight sportspersons of merit, including PT Usha, Yogeshwar Dutt, Dola Banerjee and Rohit Rajpal.

Usha was then nominated and elected unopposed as president; Yogeshwar, Dola and Rajpal were elected to the executive committee.

A former NSF president said the Bill is silent on many things, including the retirement age of officials. “There is no clarity on the retirement of executive members as there is no bar on their continuance. I am sorry to say that provisions of the sports code and court directives due to Rahul Mehra’s cases are far better than this Bill,” he said. “I suspect the age and tenure concessions were brought in consultation with a few administrators who want to stay in offices for as long as they want,” he added.

National Sports Governance Bill explained

— Proposes to set up a National Sports Board, a regulatory body that would grant recognition or suspend recognition of a national sports federation and its affiliate bodies.

— Even the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will have to seek yearly recognition from National Sports Board.

— All the recognised national sports federations will be considered as public authority under the RTI Act, 2005.

— Bill seeks to set up a National Sports Tribunal to deal with all court cases. Appeals against the tribunal’s judgments to be heard by the Supreme Court.

— The Bill makes it compulsory to include at least two sportspersons of merit and two from its athletes commission to sit in the executive body.

— For gender parity, it states that all boards must have four women members as part of the executive board.

— The government will set up a National Sports Election Panel from among retired Election Commission officers to conduct the elections to all the federations.

— Age and tenure guidelines have been relaxed. Previously, executive committee members were barred from contesting after attaining the age of 70. Now they can contest till they are 75. Term restrictions are only for the offices of president, secretary general and treasurer and not for other executive committee members.

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