The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports may have opened a veritable Pandora’s Box by admitting that the National Sports Development Code of India 2011 permitted it to relax certain provisions when granting recognition to National Sports Federations.
In what could be a first, the Ministry claimed in a counter affidavit submitted before the Delhi High Court in the Rajasthan Equestrian Association vs Equestrian Federation of India & Others case, that its executive powers included the privilege of relaxing certain provisions. It has cited Clause 5 of the Guidelines for Recognition of National Sports Federations in its defence.
Let us read the Clause before taking up a discussion.
“Recognition of a federation shall not be a matter of right and shall be purely at the discretion of the Govt. of India who may grant recognition subject to such terms and conditions as it deems fit.”
It is possible that the interpretation that this Clause gives the Ministry the opportunity to relax certain provisions of the Code could be challenged. Some NSFs will use this ‘loophole’ to get recognitions in perpetuity. Besides, if it were true that exceptions can be made, there has been no explanation why the Ministry has repeatedly asked EFI to comply with the Code since 2013.
If indeed the Ministry has deliberated upon the issue of EFI seeking exemption from Code compliance, why is it asking for amendments in line with the Code even now? Strange are the ways of the officials of the Department and it should not surprise anyone if the eyebrows are raised at the decision to overlook Code violation and the demand to amend the EFI statutes.
By its own admission, on August 4, 2017 the Ministry gave EFI a maximum of two years for the transition to Code compliance. With a month left for that deadline to lapse, EFI wrote to the Ministry to reconsider the issue of Code compliance because, among other arguments, it said that despite its best efforts, only 15 State Associations had been affiliated.
There were other reasons EFI cited back then. It said Equestrian sport is a club-based sport around the world as it needs requires huge infrastructure, land-holding and maintenance of horses is expensive. Therefore, as the main stakeholders in National Federations, clubs and individuals had to be given voting rights to avoid degradation of the sport.
Instead of accepting the EFI argument, the Ministry should have given EFI the directive it had given the Indian Golf Union in 2013 – treat the clubs as district units and affiliated them to State Associations rather than accord them membership of the National Federation. It is in adopting different yardsticks that the Ministry has not come across as being fair.
There is another aspect of the Ministry’s submission that catches the attention. It makes no reference to the fact that in the same letter of August 4, 2017, it has asked EFI to submit a self-contained roadmap for transition from current voting system to the one directed by the National Sports Code 2011.
With not even a hint of embarrassment, EFI has claimed credit for the two silver medals won by the riders in the Asian Games 2018. It has made no reference to the fact that the medals became possible because of the support of one individual benefactor, who not only funded the preparation of the team in Europe but also leased top-notch horses to ensure the success.
Worse, it has claimed that preparations are under way for India to improve on the two silver medal-winning performance in the 2022 Asian Games in China. With the officialdom showing its true colours and biting the hand that fed the Indian dreams, it is hard to visualise an improved performance in Hangzhou in September 2022.
Come to think of it, on December 3, 2019, the Ministry had set March 31, 2020 as the deadline for EFI to furnish a roadmap for its transition to be compliant with the NSDCI, 2011. It is clear that from 2013, successive officers of EFI has been buying time with the Ministry, promising to make course correction all the time.
It would seem that there will be no more such deadlines or delays as the matter has ended up in Court. EFI has changed its position and pleaded that it be exempted from Code compliance. It is bewildering that while granting the EFI – and some other NSFs – recognition for a year, the Ministry has insisted that it amend its constitution to be in line with the National Sports Code 2011.
It is a surefire recipe for the deadlines-and-delays game to continue.
It is unbelievable that the MYAS has gone this far to set fire to its own NSDC 2011.