Functioning of Sports Federation/Councils/Associations
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that National Sports Federations (NSFs) are autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860/Companies Act. The Government does not interfere in their day to day affairs, which include holding of sports events, selection of players, etc. However, Government has made it mandatory for them to follow norms for transparency and good governance through the National Sports Development Code, 2011. Important norms are as follows:
i. The President of any recognized NSFs, including the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) can hold the office for a maximum period of twelve years with or without break.
ii. The Secretary (or by whatever other designation such as Secretary General or General Secretary by which he is referred to) and the Treasurer of any recognized NSF, including the IOA, may serve a maximum of two successive terms of four years each after which a minimum cooling off period of four years will apply to seek fresh election to either post.
iii. The President, the Secretary and the Treasurer of any recognized NSF, including the IOA, shall cease to hold that post on attaining the age of 70 years.
iv. Government on 26.2.2015 has issued instructions to all the NSFs to place on their website, various details of the international events held in India and abroad such as notification of selection criteria for such events well in advance along with the details of time and venue for selection, list of core probables and basis of their selection, details of coaching camps organized including venue, dates and list of participants, list of the athletes selected, performance criteria which formed the basis of selection, actual performance in terms of timing, distance, etc. and the position obtained by each athlete/team etc.
In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today Shri Sonowal said, under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs, financial assistance to the tune of Rs.2.00 lakhs is given for organizing one National level championship in a year for ‘high priority’ and ‘priority’ sports disciplines for Senior (Men & Women), Junior & Sub-junior (Boys & Girls). In addition, financial assistance is also provided for holding zonal championship @ Rs.1.00 lakh subject to a maximum of six zonal championships in a year for Senior category (Men & Women). In case the championships are held separately for men and women, 50% of the admissible grant is given for each category. In addition, upto Rs.10 lakhs is also given to the eligible NSFs for holding international events in India. Financial assistance is also given for participation in the events held abroad as per the provisions under the Scheme of Assistance to NSFs.
The NSFs are also required to submit their accounts duly audited by the Chartered Accountants in the panel of Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Accounts of the Federations receiving grant of more than Rs.1.00 crore in a year are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Minister added.
****
AD/DB