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Politics and Public Policy in India

August 30, 2011 • 8:56 pm 2

Use CCI to tame BCCI

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 ?

Also read:

Social Justice in Cricket

IPL and Pakistan players

 

IPL and Conflicts of Interest

 

Filed under: Cricket, Cricket Governance

April 15, 2010 • 9:35 am 8

Shashi Tharoor IPL – Transparency, Conflicts of Interest

As controversy rages on sweat equity in Kochi IPL team to Shashi Tharoor’s friend Sunanda, the spotlight has shifted to governance issues and public interest in Sports League Management.

While the Business Standard had this to say on conflicts of interest

There is nothing wrong in business persons and professionals entering public life and becoming ministers. But once they do so, they should keep at an arms length their private interests, both of their own and their near and dear ones.

The Indian Express went further to examine the issue threadbare with one lead editorial and an op-ed covering International precedents.

While the IPL has made public its Operating Manual not much is known of its Constitution and Governance.

This post lists publicly available International content on transparency and governance in Sports League Management as well as instances of public intervention.

#1 – NFL Constitution covers restrictions on ownership to avoid conflicts of interest as well as describes the office of Commissioner

#2 – Governance and Competition in Professional Sports Leagues – A collection of papers covering NFL, Spanish, French and German football leagues and UEFA

#3 Paper on French Soccer League’s Financial Crisis - French Ministry of Finance carried out 19 searches in five football clubs and connected TV channels, football marketing companies, the Professional Football League (LFP), the French Football Federation, and the UNFP (Union of Professional Football Players). The investigation is all about unfair competition and its financial outcome

The issue in the Tharoor IPL Kochi episode goes beyond governance issues for it also involves conflicts of interest concerning a Public Servant.

#1 Parliamentary Ethics – It is interesting to note that the United States Congress has established an independent office of Congressional ethics comprising a board of private citizens, with a well defined process for investigating ethics issues and a provision for quarterly disclosures

#2 Government Ethics – It is also interesting to note the mission statement of the United States Office of Government Ethics for its emphasis on conflict of interest.

Office of Government Ethics exercises leadership in the executive branch to prevent conflicts of interest on the part of Government employees, and to resolve those conflicts of interest that do occur

The OGE website has a good compilation of common ethics issues concerning the Executive branch of Government in the United States

As news also trickles of IPL franchisee clubs coming under tax scrutiny for money laundering, this 2009 report  from the US Treasury Department website on Money Laundering through the Football Sector is a must read.

Older Offstumped posts on ethics issues in Cricket involving BCCI and IPL.

Filed under: Cricket, Cricket Governance, DesiPundit

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