Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Cabinet on Tuesday rejected the Sports Bill which sought to regulate the operations of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and other sports bodies.
Ajay maken's dream project has fallen through atleast for now - Sharad Pawar and Farooq Abdullah amongst its chief critics. It's clear that his move to include cricket along with other sports in the Bill and bring it under the Right to Information Act (RTI) was a bit too radical for BCCI heavy weights in the Cabinet.
These men run Indian cricket with an iron fist and atleast for now their fiefdom is secure. The sports minister's proposals were quite radical and had they gone through, the Indian cricket board would have been directly impacted..
Under the Bill, the BCCI would have come under the Right to Information Act, which means none of its activities could be kept secret any longer.
The board would have had to place its audited account on their website and would have had to present them annunally before Parliament.
The board would have had to ensure that atleast 25 per cent of its officials are former cricketers and that none of its office bearers are over the age of 70.
Not surprisingly, the BCCI opposed the Bill tooth and nail and had strong voices in the Cabinet. Former BCCI chief and ICC President Sharad Pawar, Mumbai Cricket Association chief Vilasrao Deshmukh and Parliamentary Affairs minister Rajiv Shukla.
Maken though makes no bones about his intention to include cricket in the ambit of the Bill. Before the Cabinet meet, he wrote on his twitter page,"How, bringing a Sports Body under RTI tantamounts to controlling it, I fail to understand it? Just an effort to make it accountable to its fans."
And surprisingly, while his Cabinet colleagues didn't warm up to the idea, Maken had the support of some prominent former cricketers.
The board will be relieved for the moment that a battle with the government has been averted but the question is if they can avoid more confrontations in the future.
Sports Bill not cleared by Cabinet
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday decided not to table the National Sports Development Bill in this session of Parliament and asked the Sports Ministry to prepare another draft.
Sports Minister Ajay Maken has been asked to rework the Sports Bill, after a number of ministers raised objections at the Cabinet meet. At present, five Cabinet Ministers are heading different sports bodies.
After an hour-long meeting, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday decided Ajay Maken's dream to change the face of sporting administration in the country remains just that.
One of the most contentious clauses was bringing the BCCI under the RTI ambit.
ICC President Sharad Pawar vehemently opposed the move of bringing the BCCI under RTI. He almost warned that even if the Bill is passed by the Cabinet, he would complain to the UPA leadership. He even said that if an age bar of 70 was imposed on sports administrators, then by that yardstick half of the cabinet shouldn't be there.
Faruq Abdullah, President of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association, expressed reservations of putting an age bar of 70 years for sports administrators. He said he himself was fit enough to carry out sports administrative affairs despite being over 70.
CP Joshi, President of Rajasthan Cricket Association, opposed the Bill on grounds of it encroaching on the autonomy of different sporting federations.
Kapil Sibal maintained that this was not the right time to be involved in another controversy, that too over sports now.
Home Minister P Chidambaram - though was more optimistic - said the Bill, although ambitious, still has several positives.
"We will support this Bill for the sake of transparency. If the policy is to bring every authority under RTI Act, then we will support this Bill" said RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Over 50 minutes of the cabinet meeting was spent in opposing the Sports Development Bill. Maken's Bill - though well intentioned - obviously touches a lot of politicians involved in sports administration the wrong way. He will now have to go back to the drawing board to do a tight rope walk - between his intentions of reforming sports administration and taking his political colleagues along.
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