New Delhi [India], August 13 : NCP MP Praful Patel has hailed the passage of the Sports Bill, calling it a landmark moment for Indian sport and a long-awaited step towards better governance, athlete representation, and efficient dispute resolution.
Speaking on the significance of the legislation, Patel told ANI, "Sports Bill is a very important Bill because for many years, all sports federations were working under different constitutions, a lot of legalities, a lot of matters were there in court. Also, the athletes were not getting direct representation on the sports bodies. This is a longstanding demand."
Patel emphasised that one of the most important features of the bill is the establishment of a dedicated tribunal for resolving disputes, reducing the burden on the judiciary and ensuring quicker justice.
"The dispute resolution mechanism, instead of going to court, there is a tribunal which will ease the pressure not only on the courts but justice will also be delivered," he explained.
Highlighting India's growing ambitions on the global sporting stage, Patel added, "I personally feel that if India, as a major sporting nation in the time to come, does need a proper code and a governance bill, and that has been enacted today by Rajya Sabha and yesterday by Lok Sabha. It will now become law of the land and that will help sports in general. In our bid for the 2036 Olympics and also the anti-doping Act will conform India with the global standard."
The upper house of the Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday passed the National Sports Governance Bill and the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2025, after it was passed in the lower house, the Lok Sabha, on Monday.
The bill was introduced by Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to provide a robust legal framework for sports governance in India, promoting transparency, accountability, and athlete welfare.
The National Sports Governance Bill aims to provide for the development and promotion of sports, welfare measures for sportspersons, ethical practices based on basic universal principles of good governance, ethics and fair play of the Olympic and sports movement, Olympic Charter, Paralympic Charter, international best practices and established legal standards and to provide for the resolution of sports grievances and sports disputes in a unified, equitable and effective manner and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration.
It is a significant step in uplifting the Indian sporting system for all of its stakeholders as for the first time, the governance of sports in the nation will be backed by a robust legal framework, bringing an end to patchy policies and fragmented court rulings.
Notably, the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court had urged the Parliament to legislate a proper, comprehensive sports governance framework. With over 350 legal cases disrupting the work of sporting federations, this bill provides a single-window, legally sound mechanism to end confusion and bring order.
This law aims to make the functioning of sports federations smoother and stronger, as India aspires to host the 2036 Olympics in a bid to rise as a sporting superpower.
With plenty of legal confusion currently existing due to conflicting orders (such as WP 195/2010, AIFF, IOA cases) and stays/sealed results of National Sports Federations (NSF) elections (Kabaddi, Volleyball, BFI, etc), factionalism, biased selection, lack of standards in selections, ethics and representation has done Indian sports plenty of harm, which this bill seeks to end once and for all.
After this law, India will join nations like proper sports laws in place, namely UK, USA, China, Japan, France, Brazil, Germany, etc. France's National Sports Agency (ANS) is noted for independent oversight, ethics, gender parity, as per the Union Sports Ministry.
The end goal is to end all the instability, while building a culture and governance system which is "clean, athlete-focused and transparent."
As a part of this bill, there will be a National Sports Board (NSB), an independent regulatory authority replacing the ministry's direct oversight. This will grant recognitions to NOC, NSFs, RSFs, NSPOs, and register all affiliates, including those at the state and district levels. The members chosen for this will be highly-skilled and expert people from the fields of sports, governance, law and public administration.
A National Sports Tribunal will be established to resolve all sports-related disputes, led by a retired/serving Supreme Court or Chief Justice. Speedy and affordable redressal of all sporting disputes is the top priority.
There will also be a National Sports Election Panel, a pool of qualified election officials to ensure transparent elections in sports federations. It also aims to end inflated payments and biased appointments and fees will be standardised by NSB.
The executive committee of sporting bodies will undergo an overhaul too, with a cap of 15 members for more efficiency. As a part of this, four women will be included mandatorily. Also, there will be two "sportspersons of outstanding merit" and two athletes' commission members who will be included in the federations. The office bearer's age has been capped at 70 (75 in special cases), with a member allowed a maximum of three terms and a cooling-off period.
This bill also features compulsory athletes' commissions for all NOCs, NPC and NSFs. There will be "formalised participation of athletes in governance and policy-making.
NSFs will also be required to form ethics committees. In cases where NSFs have not formed it, the NOC ethics committee will serve as the ethics committee of such NSFs. NSFs would also have to put in place a mandatory 'Safe Sports Policy' for the protection of women, minors and vulnerable athletes.
The sporting bodies will be designated as a public authority under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, and public access to functioning and finances will ensure clean governance.
As per this bill, in case a sporting body gets suspended, de-recognised or there is a governance failure, NSB may direct NOC to constitute an ad-hoc administrative body, which will consist of upto five eminent sports administrators, having served as presidents, secretary generals or treasurers in a National Sports Body or have been/are members in EC of the NOC, without conflict of interest. This will bring in continuity in governance of a sport, "without judicial intervention and aligns with international norms of normalisation".Under this bill, only recognised bodies can use the name "India" and the national flag/tricolour.
The bill is fully in line with the Olympic and Paralympic charters. The draft of the bill was shared with the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, the International Hockey Federation (FIH), World Athletics, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), among other international sports governing bodies.
The bill is also in compliance with international statutes, ensures protection from IOC derecognition risks and aims to boost India's global sporting integration.
Robust pre-legislative consultation and stakeholder consultation was carried out for this bill. Consultations were carried out with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), NSFs, athletes, and legal experts. On an international level, various federations like the IOC, FIFA, FIVB, World Athletics, etc were consulted with. Over 700 responses were received from these consultations and incorporated into the bill. This bill also includes inputs from 16 ministries, including MEA, Law, Defence, NITI Aayog, WCD, DOPT, etc.
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