Opinion National Sports Governance Bill: Will govt clean up federations including BCCI — or isthere a danger of overreach?

nearly a decade ago, when the Supreme Court was hearing the recommendations made by a panel led by Justice R M Lodha, set up by the Court to suggest reforms to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, then Chief Justice T S Thakur asked the BCCI a rhetorical question: “Are you refusing to be reformed?” In the coming days, the cricket board could, again, face a similar question. For years, the BCCI has acted on its own on governance issues. Through the National Sports Governance Bill, which Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya introduced in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, the government has shown a will to bell the cat.

So far, the BCCI has resisted all attempts to bring it under government regulation. Its main argument has been that since it does not seek funding from the sports ministry, it isn’t answerable to it. Unlike other sports, the cricket board, an autonomous body, isn’t covered under the Right to Information Act, 2005. However, with cricket returning to the Olympics in 2028, it could be forced to align with other national federations and follow the standard good governance practices. The government aims to achieve this by bringing the BCCI under the National Sports Board (NSB), as the Bill envisages. The NSB will have sweeping powers to lay down rules and oversee the functioning of all federations — from unconventional games like atya patya to mainstream sports like cricket.

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Indeed, sports governance issues go beyond cricket. The Bill seeks to bring in legislation to improve “the governance of the sports bodies and achieve better results in sports and reduce the disputes and litigation, inter alia, involving sports federations”. It relies on two main pillars — the NSB will be a SEBI-like body that will govern all sports, and the creation of a National Sports Tribunal, which will take the burden away from the lower courts and high courts. With the NSB, there are fears of government overreach and the question of appointing the right people, free of conflicts of interest or bias, to head the organisation. At the same time, there are concerns that the formation of the Tribunal, which will have the powers of a civil court and decide on disputes ranging from selection to election, could disenfranchise athletes and administrators of their right to approach the courts. Whether or not the government, through this Bill, succeeds in cleaning up the messy Indian sports administration depends on whether or not it manages to enforce its provisions in letter and spirit.