Ajay Maken insists on transparency bill, calls for efficiency in federations

September 3, 2011 | National News | Written by

Chennai, Sep 3: Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken on Saturday called for clarity, efficiency and transparency in the governing bodies of various sports.

Talking to reporters here, Maken expressed hopes of enactment of Sports Transparency Bill mooted by the central government and also slammed the vested interest adversaries including the cash rich apex cricket body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, for refusing to accept the proposed Bill.

“Well, I am still to receive the minutes of the Cabinet meeting. Once I receive the minutes, then we will see what to do and in any case, as I said, that bringing in transparency into the functioning of sports federations through Right to Information and more voice of the players in the executive committee of any sports federation, voting rights and good governance principles, which includes the age and tenure norms is something which is a must as far as cleansing the sports in our country is concerned,” he added.

Around 44 sports federations, except the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), have agreed to accept the proposed legislation.

Adamant on bringing transparency into the functioning of sports associations, Maken said that he would rework on the draft bill, if any kind of apprehension arises.

“We do not intend to be intrusive into any sports federation. We do not intend to have the government nominees as office bearer or member of any sports federation. Beyond that, what we are very keen with is to bring in transparency and efficiency into the functioning of sports federations. So, we will rework keeping these things in mind and I personally speak to all such people to clear apprehensions of any kind,” he said.

He reiterated that the government has no plans to intrude in the working of any sports body and all that it wished is to ensure transparency.

In June, the International Cricket Council (ICC) ordered its members to free themselves from the shackles of government interference or face sanctions and the Bill, if passed, could become a headache for BCCI, incidentally the world’s richest cricket body.

However, the BCCI remains a rare Indian federation that does not take government grants directly and holds regular elections. (ANI)