By IANS,
New Delhi : A clause requiring athletes to state their whereabouts to enable dope tests has been excluded from the revised draft of the National Sports Development Bill released Monday. However, the contentious age and tenure limit of office-bearers of sports federations and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has been left untouched. The bill also brings all sports bodies under the RTI Act.
Fourteen changes have been made in the bill after the cabinet rejected it in August. The National Sports Federations (NSFs), particularly the powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), opposed the earlier draft saying it intruded into their autonomous functioning. The NSFs have 14 days to state their views on the revised draft.
Releasing the revised draft, Sports Minister Ajay Maken said all clauses that NSFs thought were aimed at interfering with their functioning have been removed and he is confident that the bill will now get the cabinet’s approval and of those ministers who hold top posts in the NSFs.
“The information related to the health of the players has been kept out of the purview of RTI queries. The reason for that is we don’t want their opponents to know about our players and then prepare accordingly. Otherwise, it will be a disadvantage for our players. The financial and administrative matters, however, will be kept under the RTI,” Maken said.
The whereabouts clause of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which the BCCI had strongly opposed, has also been done away with.
“If there is a disagreement between an international body’s norms and the WADA’s, then the former’s will prevail,” said Maken.
The bill allows for 25 percent representation for sportspersons in the NSFs. It what should be welcome news for federations, the clause requiring them to be in existence for three years before being recognised has been removed.
The bill also bars officials of the sports ministry from contesting elections in NSFs or the IOA for five years after leaving their jobs.
The government will continue educating the athletes, providing healthcare and paying pension to them.
The bill also aims at promoting Paralympic and Special Olympic sports across the country.
To avoid duplication of work, the offices of the sports ombudsman and the National Sports Development Council have been done away with because the IOA has set up an Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports on the lines of the International Court of Arbitration.
The independence of the Appellate Sports Tribunal remains intact. Therefore, the power to appoint the chairperson and other members of the Appellate Tribunal has been granted to an independent Selection Committee to be chaired by the chief justice of India, with a representation from the IOA. The authority to remove a member of the Appellate Tribunal now vests with the chief justice of India.