Ministry ‘acknowledges’ that NSFs are not completely in line with its own National Sports Code

In recently renewing the recognition of 41 National Sports Federations, including for 13 of them only until December 31, 2020, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has given 40 of them six months to bring their constitution fully in line with the National Sports Development Code of India 2011 and three months to make suo-moto disclosure of information as sought in a letter of February 2015.

There could not been a more tacit admission that the Ministry has not been very particular in enforcing its own Code. This can be found in the letters that the Ministry has written to each of the first 41 National Federations that it has recently granted recognition to. If every NSF has been told to amend its statutes to be in line with the needs of the Code, it has to be deemed in violation.

Of course, over the past few years, the Ministry has taken up violations selectively, with no apparent method to or consistency in making exceptions. The manner in which not a few NSFs have been able to get their way for a number of years does not reflect well on the system that chooses to crack the whip at a few and ignore others for their transgressions of the Code.

The Ministry moved swiftly to delist the Rowing Federation of India in January this year just as it large-heartedly overlooked of the transgressions by Equestrian Federation of India and the Fencing Association of India. In September last year, the Ministry derecognised the Paralympic Committee of India a second time in four years over governance issues and non-compliance with the Code.

There are other examples of such brisk action.

Back in 2012, the Ministry derecognised the Archery Association of India; it also told the Athletics Federation of India to hold fresh elections for three key posts; the All India Tennis Association was dercognised when Anil Khanna was re-elected in 2016 in what would have been his fourth successive term as an office-bearer, including one as President.

To be sure, the Ministry lists more than 20 criteria for an NSF to be eligible for recognition (or for its extension each year).  It is time, perhaps, for the Ministry to grade violations and prescribe penalties for each of them. At this point of time, the violation of any part of the Code can lead to the suspension of recognition of a National Sports Federation.

For instance, NSFs will find it hard to follow that Code when it states that the right to cast vote in the General Body Meetings is vested only with affiliated State/Union Territory units and not in any other class of Member(s), but also insists that prominent sportspersons with voting rights should be a minimum percentage (say 25%) of the members representing the federation.

Small wonder petitioner Rahul Mehra has found the Indian Olympic Association and NSFs have all violated that provision. The only time an NSF gave prominent athletes the right to vote was in the Archery Association of India elections in December 2018, but in May 2019, the Supreme Court set the constitution revised by AAI Administrator SY Quraishi – and the elections – aside.

Curiously, like it did with all NSFs when granting recognition, the Ministry has asked the All India Football Federation also to amend its constitution in six months. It is public knowledge that the Supreme Court appointed a two-member Committee of Administrators to amend the AIFF statutes. That process has seemingly been completed in January, and is awaiting the highest Court’s nod.

That brings us to the one NSF which has not been asked to file an amended constitution – the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India. Before you conclude that AKFI is fully Code compliant, it must be pointed out that it has been run by a Delhi High Court-appointed Administrator since August 3, 2018 when the Court struck down many clauses in the AFI Memorandum of Association.

It is another matter that Administrator has not yet been able to draw up the Electoral College in keeping with the guidelines in the Code and conduct elections as per the Delhi High Court’s orders. After that happens, AKFI would have to amend its constitution to be compliant with the Code and then hold another election – in much the same manner as the Archery Association of India did.

Here is a snapshot of how IOA and some top NSFs are in conformity or violation of some key provisions of the Code, as stated by Rahul Mehra in his 258-page reply on July 31, 2020 to Ministry’s CM Application in the Delhi High Court.

It should be easy for the Department of Sports to come up a table of its own, including the reason/s for overlooking some violations. By all accounts, the National Sports Development Code of India 2011 does not have a provision that empowers the Ministry to relax any of the provisions of the Code, in whole or in part.

Indeed, there has to be a show of intent to enforce the code uniformly across all disciplines. Or else, the latest letter that the Ministry has sent to each of the 41 NSFs (and posted on its website) will only be just another in a series of missives. The Ministry must identify specific areas in which each NSF constitution is not in line with the Code rather than leave it to each NSF to decipher these for itself.