​​​​​​​People with proven sports credentials should run sports bodies
Sports organisations in India are not headed by sportspersons but largely by politicians. The glitter and glamour of sport, and the abundance of money and influence attract politicians. Over time, the organisations turn into personal fiefs and their control remains within the family. Scandals and scams, cases of nepotism and favouritism, sportspersons getting caught in internal politics, genuine contenders excluded from tournaments, and many more disturbing incidents have plagued these bodies. In most cases, the politicians escape both accountability and punitive action. The worst incident relates to the instances of corruption in the Delhi Commonwealth Games of 2010 when Suresh Kalmadi, the then Congress politician and head of the organising committee of the Games, was even arrested on corruption charges. How deep-rooted is political control over sports is evidenced by the fact that in 2016, the Indian Olympic Association named the scam-tainted Kalmadi as honorary lifetime president. Kalmadi was president of the Amateur Athletics Federation of India for nearly two decades. For that matter, BJP leader VK Malhotra also completed two decades as head of the Archery Federation of India. The case of Sharad Pawar's hold over cricketing bodies, not to talk of several others, is well documented.
The Madras High Court is the latest to decree that only sportspersons and not politicians or businessmen should be the office-bearers of sports clubs, associations and federations. Even the Supreme Court in 2013 chastised the government for being unable to control the federations. The court said politicians and businessmen were causing harm by heading sports bodies, adding these officers run the federations at the cost of the game and have nothing to do with the game. The courts can only say so much. The rest is for the politicians to act upon. And that action is not forthcoming at all. What is required is legislation that makes all sports bodies accountable and transparent and stipulates that office-bearers must have a minimum of a decade's direct involvement in sports at the national level. Professionals can take up other organisational roles. One recalls former law minister Veerappa Moily admitting that he wanted to bring in such legislation but he was under pressure to desist. He could not even manage to push a proposal to bring all sports bodies under the purview of the RTI Act.