New Delhi: The Indian Olympic Association has raised several objections in its feedback to the draft of the National Code for Good Governance in Sports (NCGGS) 2017, chief among which were articles which they deemed as amounting to government interference in sports bodies autonomy.
It was also opposed to the proposal to restrict the age limit of the office-bearers of National Sports Federations (NSFs) to 70 years and the exclusion of state Olympic Associations from the IOA.
The IOA opposed the provision in the draft code that requires the government to nominate or appoint an Athletes’ Commission. “The Indian Olympic Association is duty-bound to protect the autonomy of sports organisations and opposes the provision in this Code for the Government to nominate/appoint Athletes Commission in the NOC/NSFs,” it said.
It also raised a red flag over government interference in the provision that reserved a position for a government nominee in the board of the National Olympic Committee or an NSF. “Any position for a government nominee on the Board of the NOC/NSFs clearly amounts to government intervention in the autonomy of sports governance,” it said.
It was argued in 2014 that the national sports code, which was formulated in 2011, was not updated as per the requirements of the modern-day sport. In 2017, on the direction of the Delhi High Court, the sports ministry reconstituted a panel that put out a revised code which is yet to be implemented.
