Cricket team won’t be called ‘India’ unless BCCI comes under RTI If the Sports Bill passes, the BCCI will have to submit to the Right to Information Act. Getty Images The BCCI will have to come under the ambit of Right to Information Act if it wants to use ‘India’ as its national team’s name, Justice Mukul Mudgal, who headed the committee constituted to draft the Sports Development Bill 2013, said today. Justice Mudgal said that all the sports bodies, including the BCCI, will have to come under the RTI once the Bill is passed by the Parliament. If they refuse, then they cannot use ‘India’ as the national team’s name. “RTI will apply to all sports bodies and even cricket will come under it. Apart from a few exemptions like one cannot raise questions regarding why a particular player/coach is selected over another, or the contents of a player’s contract, medical health and fitness etc, the public is authorised to raise questions,” said Justice Mudgal at a media interaction to discuss the contents of the draft Bill. The working group also includes eminent sportspersons like Olympic gold medal-winning shooter Abhinav Bindra and former India hockey skipper Viren Rasquinha, sports administrators and legal experts. “The board should have waited for the police probe to get over before clearing them. The BCCI, like all other national sports federations, will have to come under the RTI and anti-doping regulations. We will stick by the recommendations made to us by the Justice Mukul Mudgal-led panel,” Sports Secretary PK Deb was quoted as saying in an Important provisions in the draft Bill include setting up of an Appellate Sports Tribunal and a Sports Election Commission, barring of charge-sheeted persons under the Criminal Procedure Code (section 228) from contesting elections. The draft Bill also provides for the constitution of an Athletes Commission and NOC/NSFs functioning as a public authority under the RTI and submission of report to the Parliament; setting up of an Ethics Commission which will enforce a Code of Ethics in accordance with the International Olympic Committee’s code and principles, enshrined in the Constitution of India. “The draft Bill talks about setting up of an Athletes Commission with the provision that the athletes be included in the decision making process of executive body. The total strength of the athletes in the executive body shall not be less than 25 per cent of the voting rights,” said Bindra. Mudgal and Boria insisted that with an intention of rooting out corruption from sports, a clause has been included in the draft Bill wherein anybody who has been charge-sheeted will not be able contest in the elections of a NSF. “Any tainted person will not be allowed to be a part of any NSF,” said sports expert Boria Mazumdar. According to the draft Bill, the representation of either gender should not be less than 10 per cent of the membership in the General Body. All cases where the NOC/NSF are parties will, with the leave of the Supreme Court or the High Court as the case may be, be transferred to the Appellate Sports Tribunal. An Athletes Commission has been proposed to be set up in each NOC/NSF within six months of promulgation of this Act; the Athletes Commission shall also advise the NOC/NSF on development of the sport, training and competition schedules, athletes grievances, selection and technical criteria, logistics and administration support amongst others. The draft Bill also incorporates the controversial age and tenure guidelines under which all office bearers of the Indian Olympic Association and the NSFs will retire at the age of 70. A person who has served as an officer bearer on the executive body of a NSF/NOC for two consecutive terms will be ineligible to stand for election. The Sports Election Commission has been proposed in the Bill to conduct free and fair elections to the National Olympic Committee, National Sport Federations and the Athletes Commission. “A copy of the draft has been sent to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its comments, following an agreement between Indian officials and the IOC in their May 15 meeting in Lausanne. After that we would introduce it to the cabinet and I am confident of this bill getting a clearance,” said Deb.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:58:50 +0000
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