{"id":59259,"date":"2025-08-13T11:30:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=59259"},"modified":"2025-08-13T11:30:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T06:00:21","slug":"sports-governance-bill-passes-keeps-bcci-outside-rti-scope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/sports-governance-bill-passes-keeps-bcci-outside-rti-scope\/","title":{"rendered":"Sports Governance Bill Passes, Keeps BCCI Outside RTI Scope"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>BCCI RTI Exemption Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Rajya Sabha passed the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025, a day after its clearance in the Lok Sabha.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Opposition leaders criticised the legislation, calling it an \u201cextreme centralisation of sports administration\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They highlight that the bill grants the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) most favoured treatment by keeping it outside the scope of national laws like the Right to Information (RTI) Act.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bill specifies that <\/span><b>only sports bodies receiving direct financial assistance from the government are deemed \u201cpublic authorities\u201d under the RTI Act<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Since the BCCI does not get such funding, it will remain excluded.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the years, the BCCI has resisted inclusion under the RTI despite recommendations from the Supreme Court, the Law Commission of India, and the Central Information Commission to bring it under the transparency law.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>RTI Exemption for BCCI in National Sports Governance Bill<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The National Sports Governance Bill seeks to recognise and regulate national sports bodies, aligning them with Olympic and Paralympic Charters and global best practices to improve transparency, accountability, and international collaboration opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Initially, <\/span><b>Clause 15(2) of the Bill<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> defined a recognised sports organisation as a \u201cpublic authority\u201d under the RTI Act, making its operations \u2014 including team selection and contract awards \u2014 open to public scrutiny.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This broad definition would have included the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, a <\/span><b>later amendment narrowed the definition<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only cover organisations receiving government grants or financial assistance, and even then, solely regarding the utilisation of those funds<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This change excluded the BCCI \u2014 which does not take direct government funding \u2014 from RTI obligations, despite cricket\u2019s impending inclusion in the Olympics and calls for greater transparency in the sport\u2019s administration.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>BCCI\u2019s Stance and RTI Debate<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BCCI maintains that it is a private, autonomous body registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975, and not a \u201cpublic authority\u201d under the RTI Act.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It does not receive direct government funding, and is not classified as a sports federation under the Union Sports Ministry.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Judicial and Commission Recommendations<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multiple judicial and quasi-judicial bodies have challenged BCCI\u2019s stance.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Law Commission of India\u2019s 275th Report (2018)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> recommended classifying the BCCI as a public authority.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It cited indirect financial benefits such as tax exemptions exceeding \u20b92,100 crore (1997\u20132007) and subsidised land allotments by state governments.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Supreme Court Observations<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2015, the <\/span><b>Supreme Court observed that BCCI performs \u201cpublic functions\u201d<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2014 including selecting India\u2019s national teams, using national symbols, and monopolising cricket with government concurrence.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>Justice R.M. Lodha Committee<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> called BCCI\u2019s functioning a \u201cclosed door and back-room affair\u201d and urged legislative inclusion under the RTI Act.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>CIC\u2019s Landmark Order and Legal Challenge<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, the Central Information Commission declared BCCI a \u201cpublic authority\u201d and directed it to create an RTI query mechanism.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BCCI challenged this order in the Madras High Court, which stayed its implementation, leaving the matter unresolved.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Implications of Bringing BCCI Under RTI<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the BCCI were brought under the RTI Act, citizens could request comprehensive information about its operations \u2014 from team selection criteria and broadcasting contract details to infrastructure tenders, official appointments, and meeting minutes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This transparency would compel the board to justify decisions to the public, rather than only to its internal members.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court, in its 2015 ruling, clarified that <\/span><b>while BCCI is not a state body, it is subject to writ jurisdiction under Article 226<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Constitution because it performs public functions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This empowers High Courts to intervene when the board\u2019s actions are arbitrary or against public interest.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/as-houses-pass-sports-governance-bill-recalling-bcci-opposition-to-rti-10185537\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">IE<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> | <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.firstpost.com\/firstcricket\/bcci-kept-out-of-rti-act-ambit-national-sports-governance-bill-explained-13921323.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FP<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Sports Governance Bill passes, excluding BCCI from RTI despite calls for transparency from the Supreme Court, Law Commission, and CIC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":59271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[2162,60,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-59259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-bcci-rti-exemption","9":"tag-mains-articles","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}