The Sports Ministry withdrawing provisional recognition to 54 National Sports Federations (NSF) has started a blame game with federation officials claiming it was the government’s lack of preparation in fighting a legal battle that led to even eligible federations facing action.
The ministry acted after the Delhi high court in its order on June 24 asked the government to withdraw its annual recognition to the federations. The court said the ministry has “tried to overreach” its order of Feb 7, which had directed that the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the ministry will henceforth inform the court before taking any decision in relation to NSFs.
The court said on Wednesday that the ministry can file a fresh application in this regard. “As and when a fresh application is moved by the respondent No.1 MYAS, the notice shall be placed on record,” it said.
The sports ministry is planning to do that, to get the court’s reprieve. “Since the court order was passed on June 24 we are examining it and will soon take a decision,” Secretary Sports, Ravi Mittal, said.
IOA president Narinder Batra blamed the legal teams of his body and the sports ministry. “They should have been more serious,” he said.
“At this moment all I can say it’s a complicated situation because the next date is in August. If the focus is on court cases and legal matters, it will distract NSFs from starting the Olympic preparation that has been halted due to coronavirus,” Batra said.
Athletics Federation of India (AFI) president Addile Sumariwalla, said, “The government should re-apply and give recognition to NSFs that are eligible.”
Till the court’s go-ahead, the ministry has asked Sports Authority of India (SAI) to stop financial grants to federations. “The ministry has asked SAI to stop financial grants to NSFs till they approach the court and get a go ahead. The only respite is there is no sporting action right now due to the Covid pandemic. There are no competitions and hardly any national camp is going on,” a federation official said.
The federations feel the ministry could have handled the situation better. “Because of grant of recognition to some contentious federations, even those who are legitimate got dragged into it. The ministry could have requested the court to allow recognition to eligible federations,” said another federation official.
The three federations whose recognition drew the court’s ire are Indian Golf Union (IGU), School Games Federations of India (SGFI) and Rowing Federation of India (RFI). After granting provisional annual recognition to 54 NSFs in May till September 30, the ministry on June 16 granted recognition to IGU, SGFI and RFI, who were under the scanner for contentious elections and financial irregularities.
Lawyer Rahul Mehra filed an affidavit in the court arguing that the recognition given to these federations were arbitrary and the ministry did not seek approval as directed by the court in February.
“The recognition to these three federations was given on whimsical grounds. I brought it to the court’s notice that despite the ministry being asked to secure permission, it bypassed the court order and it was important for the court to take it up and de-recognise these bodies again,” Mehra said.
Source: HindustanTimes