A proposed National Sports Bill by an enterprising Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken fell by the wayside in the Union Cabinet. The resistance was to be expected given the number of Ministers and political figures who have vested interest in Sports Administration in the country. The intended aim of the Bill was to bring in term limits in the management of sports bodies for lesser commercialized sports. But the Bill also aimed to taken on the formidable Board of Cricket Control of India, BCCI by seeking to bring it within the ambit of the Right To Information Act (RTI) in the name of accountability and transparency to cricket fans.
The debate on the proposed bill evoked some interesting responses from many who put faith in such a legislation to some in the media drawing bizarre parallels with the Anna movement. Pratap Bhanu Mehta who made a perceptive remark the other day on “protecting accountability from statism” to seem to lean towards a RTI based solution to address BCCI’s accountability to cricketing fans.
There are some interesting lessons from the United States on the role of Legislation and Professional Sports. While the Major Sporting Leagues in the U.S. are akin to IPL, the BCCI as its parent could also be dealt with if we look upon sports as a private entertainment service that benefits disproportionately on account of its Monopolistic nature.
It should be asked why isnt the Competitition Commission of India (CCI) being petitioned to protect Cricket Fans’ interests. Unlike in the United States where explicitly legislation exempts some major sports leagues from coming within the ambit of monopoly laws, the CCI Act makes no such exemption. In fact the mandate of CCI seems to include protecting Consumers Interests in amusement and entertainment services not limited to commercial corporations.
So why isnt the Sports Minister petitioning CCI to tame BCCI instead of trying to push for a new legislation ?
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Filed under: Cricket, Cricket Governance
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