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India has serious ambitions to host the Summer Olympics in 2036, giving a significant fillip to sports organisations and participants. This will involve considerable expenditure to create Olympic-standard infrastructure and establish appropriate excellence in individual sports. However, sports governance suffers from a lack of clarity in its structure and transparency.

Presently, all National Sports Federations (NSF) and the Indian Olympics Association (IOA) are governed by the National Sports Code, 2011 (sports code), issued by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS). The sports code was introduced to address gaps in the governance of sports bodies. It aims for transparency, accountability, and uniformity in the functioning of sports organisations by establishing guidelines for the governance of NSFs and the IOA. It was introduced in the wake of extensive corruption scandals during the 2010 Commonwealth Games organised by India. The sports code is an executive order and lacks legislative backing, leading to many disputes and a lack of clarity in a number of aspects of sports governance in India.

The courts have had to step in to provide necessary clarity and to ensure compliance with the sports code. The sports code, for example, introduced age and tenure limits for office bearers of NSFs and the IOA to prevent individuals from leading NSFs in perpetuity. In a landmark case, , Delhi High Court held that all NSFs and the IOA must comply with the sports code to receive government recognition and funding. The judgment ruled on 13 matters that NSFs and the IOA must follow. The sports code must be followed by all state and district associations which constitute NSFs.

The MYAS, to overhaul sports governance, recently released a draft National Sports Governance Bill, 2024 (draft bill), for consultation with various stakeholders, including NSFs, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the National Paralympic Committee (NPC).

The draft bill proposes a number of key changes. It imposes a maximum age of 70 years in elections for office bearers of NSFs, the NOC and the NPC (organisations). It limits the tenure to two consecutive four-year terms for office bearers in organisations. After completing two terms, office bearers must wait for four years before seeking re-election for the same post.

A Sports Regulatory Board of India (SRBI) is to be established as the sports governance body regulating the activities of organisations and ensuring compliance. The SRBI is empowered to grant, renew or suspend the recognition of the organisations. Independent athletes’ commissions (AC) will be set up within the organisations to ensure athletes’ representation in decision-making processes, provide platforms to address athletes’ concerns and allow athletes’ input into sports policy-making. To support their work, the government may provide ACs with additional funding. ACs will make up 10% of the general bodies of NSFs.

Ethics commissions will be set up within the organisations to uphold ethical standards and address issues of corruption and conflicts of interest involving members. If an NSF or the NPC do not establish their own ethics commissions, the NOC’s ethics commission will handle such matters. The draft bill proposes internal dispute resolution commissions at all levels of organisations to address disputes and grievances relating to their functioning. An independent body, the Appellate Sports Tribunal will handle appeals. Any pending cases involving an organisation in a high court or other court shall be transferred to this tribunal.

A sports election panel will oversee free and fair elections to organisations and an executive committee must include at least two sportspersons. Additionally, the executive committee of any organisation will be capped at 15 members.

The draft bill is a significant legislative effort to enhance governance and ethical standards of sport. It aims to provide certainty to the composition and functioning of NSFs. Presently, most NSFs and the IOA are entangled in various court cases, which have led to the appointment of administrators. This has led to questions about the independence of these organisations. The draft bill is being seen, therefore, as an attempt to bring much-needed transparency to sports regulation in India.

Rajat Prakash is the managing partner and Naina Chandok is a senior associate at Athena Legal.