Transparency will ensure CWG-type scams don't recur, says Ajay Maken

NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry is unlikely to compromise on key objections raised by ministers like Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel regarding age limits and tenure of those heading sports bodies. It will only tweak the National Sports Bill rejected by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday.

The ministry is keen to retain the spirit of transparency by bringing sports bodies under the purview of the Right to Information Act, a source in the ministry told ET. “However, we are open to reworking provisions that the ministers feel amount to controlling or intrusion into the affairs of the sports bodies,” said a senior official in the sports ministry.

“We are waiting for the minutes of the Cabinet meeting. Once we get it, we will start reworking the National Sports Development Bill and place it before the Cabinet again,” said Sports Minister Ajay Maken. He said he was confident that the bill would be passed the next time around.

The sports bill was rejected by the Cabinet on Wednesday after ministers Pawar, who heads the ICC, Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief of Mumbai Cricket Association, Farooq Abdullah, head of Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association, CP Joshi, Rajasthan Cricket Association chief and Praful Patel, All-India Football Federation president, opposed its provisions, including limits on age and tenure of those heading sports bodies.

The sports ministry, however, does not appreciate objections of these ministers. “Even if the bill is reworked, we remain firm on retaining the spirit of transparency by bringing sports bodies under RTI Act,” Maken told ET.

Maken said he would not compromise on his belief that BCCI must be subject to RTI, which would allow the public access to its financial records. He added that if the country had a bill like the one he proposed to the Cabinet on Wednesday, the Commonwealth Games scam could have been avoided.

The Sports Ministry source added that the reworked bill will continue to reflect the basic universal principle of good governance as enshrined in the Olympic Charter that caps the age of sports body heads to 70 years and limits their tenure to three terms. The Sports Ministry, however, is open to going the extra mile to exclude provisions that other ministers feel amount to controlling sports bodies.

“We will consult the ministers to know their specific objections and address those as much as possible in the bill. Hopefully we will be able to get the cabinet's clearance next time around,” assured Maken.

The Sports Ministry is not hazarding a guess on the timeframe within which it would complete fine-tuning. But what is not in doubt is that the bill will no longer be introduced in the current session of Parliament.

According to Maken, the sole intention of the National Sports Development Bill is to bring about transparency and accountability in sports. He said he was convinced that the bill would serve the purpose.

The Cabinet had on Wednesday rejected the bill after the ministers who head various sports bodies felt that the bill was seeking to control rather than facilitate development of sports. They had raised objections on the age and tenure restrictions proposed in the bill. Pawar even threatened to complain to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi if the bill was passed.