{"id":51260,"date":"2025-08-13T20:40:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T15:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=51260"},"modified":"2025-08-14T19:13:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T13:43:20","slug":"national-sports-governance-bill-2025-bcci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-08-2025\/national-sports-governance-bill-2025-bcci","title":{"rendered":"National Sports Governance Bill, 2025 &amp; BCCI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Government Policy &amp; Intervention; Sports<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently, the Parliament of India has passed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-07-2025\/national-sports-governance-bill-2025\"><strong>National Sports Governance Bill<\/strong><\/a>, aiming to overhaul India\u2019s sports administration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Provisions of the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Creation of a <strong>National Sports Board (NSB)<\/strong> to regulate and recognize sports federations;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Establishment of a <strong>National Sports Tribunal<\/strong> to resolve disputes;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mandatory compliance with international charters and ethical standards;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inclusion of sports bodies<\/strong> under the <strong>Right to Information (RTI) Act<\/strong>, but with a caveat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>National Sports Governance Bill &amp; BCCI<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>BCCI falls under the provisions of the National Sports Governance Bill, <strong>except Right to Information (RTI) Act, <\/strong>such as:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Forming an Ethics Commission;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Implementing a Safe Sports Policy;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Complying with governance norms if it receives any form of government assistance (e.g., use of public infrastructure).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>BCCI Exemption From RTI Act<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Original Draft of the National Sports Governance Bill <\/strong>(Clause 15(2)) stated that <strong>all recognised sports bodies <\/strong>would be considered public authorities under RTI.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, the <strong>original clause was tweaked<\/strong> to apply <strong>only to bodies<\/strong> <strong>receiving government financial assistance<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>BCCI and Its RTI Resistance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>BCCI<\/strong> is legally an autonomous charitable society under the <strong>Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It claims financial and organisational independence, operating outside the government\u2019s regulatory framework.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It has consistently <strong>resisted being labeled a \u2018public authority\u2019<\/strong> under the RTI Act.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indirect State Support: <\/strong>Despite no direct grants, the BCCI has historically benefited from:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tax exemptions as a charitable institution.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Land allocations at nominal rates (e.g., Re 1\/month stadium lease in Himachal Pradesh).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Use of national symbols and monopoly over cricket with <strong>tacit government approval<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Judicial Pronouncement<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Supreme Court (2015):<\/strong> Held BCCI performs public functions akin to a state body.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Justice Lodha Committee:<\/strong> Urged bringing BCCI under RTI for transparency.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Law Commission (275th Report, 2018):<\/strong> Recommended RTI coverage, citing indirect state benefits like tax exemptions (\u20b92,100+ crore between 1997\u20132007) and subsidised land leases.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>CIC Order (2018):<\/strong> Declared BCCI a public authority; stayed by Madras High Court.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Implications if BCCI Were Under RTI<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Inclusion under RTI would allow the public to request <strong>team selection criteria; contract details<\/strong> for broadcasting and infrastructure;<strong> appointment processes<\/strong> for officials and coaches; and <strong>minutes of meetings<\/strong> and decision-making records.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Olympic Implications: <\/strong>With<strong> cricket set to debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics<\/strong>, BCCI\u2019s inclusion in the Olympic movement raises questions about its accountability.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It is argued that its exemption from RTI undermines the Bill\u2019s goal of transparency and could conflict with international governance standards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/as-houses-pass-sports-governance-bill-recalling-bcci-opposition-to-rti-10185537\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source: IE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Recently, the Parliament of India has passed the National Sports Governance Bill, aiming to overhaul India\u2019s sports administration.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Key Provisions of the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Creation of a National Sports Board (NSB) to regulate and recognize sports federations;<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Establishment of a National Sports Tribunal to resolve disputes;<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Mandatory compliance with international charters and ethical standards;<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Inclusion of sports bodies under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, but with a caveat.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/13-08-2025\/national-sports-governance-bill-2025-bcci\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":51437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2025\/08\/national-sports-governance-bill-2025-and-bcci.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51260"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51436,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51260\/revisions\/51436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}