The draft sports bill returns in a new avatar, with a lot more teeth, after the working group invested the project with a sense of purpose. Even so, it would take considerable political will for the government to get the bill through Parliament at a time when the national scene has a lot more to do with impending elections.
Shot down two years ago by politicians who were on the boards of various sports federations, the draft bill returns with a vengeance. The BCCI would be the federation most affected if it were to be brought under the ambit of the RTI Act.
The BCCI has enough troubles on its plate to have to contend now with the possibility of the bill becoming law. The applicability of the RTI Act would carry with it the risk of the board being barred from having its teams represent the country. Accountability is not something the BCCI can escape permanently, certainly not after the IPL scandals and serious questions of conflict of interest arising from the president’s peccadilloes.
The RTI Act cannot obviously apply to selection matters since selection is always a matter of judgment and not of trying to distribute justice. Beyond that, there is a lot in the draft bill to be commended, especially at a time when Indian athletes are able to turn up at world events only under the IOC flag because the IOA has been derecognised. There is a lot to be done to restore order in Indian sport.