PIL seeks ban on ministers heading sports associations

A public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court has sought a ban on ministers heading sports associations and spending office hours for their party work.

The PIL,filed by the Society for Fast Justice (SFJ) an NGO,has named politicians like Union ministers Sharad Pawar,Vilasrao Deshmukh,Farooq Abdullah,C P Joshi and Praful Patel as respondents in the case. While Pawar is the chairman of International Cricket Council,Deshmukh,Abdullah and Joshi are presidents of the Cricket Associations of Mumbai,Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan. Patel is the president of the All-India Football Federation.

The petition also seeks a directive to the ministers to relinquish either the offices of ministers or their managerial positions in sports organisations while the case is pending before the court. The petitioners contend that Central and state ministers who are full-time public servants,have,for decades,headed sports,education,health and cultural organisations compromising on their duty of public administration. SJF lawyer Pradeep Havnur said the PIL was likely to be heard by a division bench on April 19.,SJF’s lawyer Pradeep Havnur said.

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Pawar,SFJ states,has “failed to manage his agriculture ministry due to his heading three premier cricket bodies. He has failed in balance crop planning in the country,resulting in excess or inadequate harvesting of variety of crops like vegetables,onions,garlic,grains,pulses,groundnuts,cotton and so on.” The petition says his inefficiency in managing his agriculture portfolio has made the common man suffer,owing to the dramatic increase in prices of foodgrains,last year.

The NGO also says that Patel,former minister for civil aviation,was responsible for Air-India’s debt increasing from Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 40,000 crore during his tenure. “He failed to manage his ministry properly as he couldn’t devote his full time due to his other engagements in sports and other activities,” the PIL says.

The petition states that the defeat of cricketer Dilip Vengsarkar in election to the post of Mumbai Cricket Association’s president by Deshmukh was unfortunate as Pawar,the outgoing MCA president,and Deshmukh had “ganged up” against Vengsarkar.

The PIL also cites the example of Union Minister for Law and Justice Salman Khurshid who was away from his office during January and February as he was campaigning for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh. “If the trend of ministers seeking extra pastures outside their offices continues,a day will come when almost all of them will create their fiefdoms outside their ambit of work,” the petition says.

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NGO has also urged the court to call for attendance records of ministers.

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