The move comes amid a tussle between the government and the BCCI over the jurisdiction of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on the cricket body.
New Delhi: The government is consulting legal experts and advisers to assess whether or not the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) can be counted as a National Sport Federation (NSF), top sources in the sports ministry told ThePrint.
The move comes amid a tussle between the government and the BCCI over the jurisdiction of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) on the cricket body.
The lack of the NSF status, however, means that the Centre has very little control over the cash-rich cricket body — something that is also being borne out in the current NADA Vs BCCI controversy.
The latest move, which could open another conflict with the BCCI, is being made even though BCCI has never applied for an NSF status or sought any government funding.
NSF or not
NSFs are autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860/Companies Act. They are expected to adhere to the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 (NSDCI) and receive financial assistance as per government schemes. The government is entitled to take appropriate action against NSFs that fail to adhere to the guidelines or show irregularities in functioning. There are nearly 50 NSFs in the country.
The BCCI is registered as a society under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. It is a consortium of state cricket associations that in turn elect the BCCI officials. Though not recognised officially by the government, it is recognised as the apex body for cricket in India by the International Cricket Council and it only needs ministerial clearances before holding international cricket tournaments.
NADA Vs BCCI
The move to assess whether the BCCI can still be counted as an NSF has come after the government’s failure in getting the board to submit to the NADA regime. The World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA) had written to the sports ministry pointing out that the BCCI is yet to comply with NADA testing framework and this could lead to its disaffiliation.
The BCCI has maintained that it is an autonomous sports organisation and not an NSF and therefore, it does not need to comply with NADA regulations. Citing its affiliation to the International Cricket Council, the BCCI has argued that it is already adhering to WADA International Standard of Laboratories.
The department of youth affairs & sports recently countered that if every other sport federation and sportsperson were complying with NADA, why should BCCI and cricketers not do the same.
After a round of meetings over the last one week, the department finally decided to throw the ball back to in WADA’s court. Sources in the department told that it will be writing to WADA soon to resolve the issue in consultation with ICC instead which affiliates BCCI.
Meanwhile, the BCCI board at its upcoming special general meeting on 9 December is expected to take a final call on the issue of NADA jurisdiction.
Past forward
It is not the first time that the Centre and the BCCI are at loggerheads. There have been conflict situations earlier as well over BCCI not submitting itself to the Right to Information (RTI) regime and the government had then made a case for it to be declared an NSF or a public body on account of tax exemptions and customs duty exemptions it receives besides land at concessional rates for building stadia and other infrastructure.
BCCI, in fact, has been embattled in controversies of corruption and monopoly. In January 2017, the Supreme Court appointed a four-member Committee of Administrators to implement the Justice Lodha Committee reforms at BCCI and brought in ex-CAG Vinod Rai to run affairs there until fresh elections are held at the board.