<p>Days after introducing a Bill on sports governance in Lok Sabha, the government has circulated amendments that practically take sports bodies like <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bcci">BCCI</a> out of the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) and restricts its applications to federations that receive grants or other financial assistance from union or state governments.</p><p>Sports Minister <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/mansukh-mandaviya">Mansukh Mandaviya</a> had on July 23 introduced the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025 in Lok Sabha, which provides for establishing National Sports Governing Bodies, a National Sports Board, National Sports Election Panel and National Sports Tribunal for the development and promotion of sports.</p><p>However, within days, the government has introduced amendments to the Bill to bring only the sports bodies that receive government funds under the purview of the transparency regime.</p>.Explained | National Sports Bill: How it's different from National Sports Code.<p>It has omitted a provision that provided for bringing all sports bodies, including the BCCI, under the RTI regime. The amendments, which were circulated among MPs a couple of days ago, will come up in the House only during the discussion of the Bill but the government still has an option not to move it. As per one of the amendments, Clause 15(2) -- a recognised sports organisation shall be considered a public authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005 with respect to the exercise of its functions, duties and powers under this Act -- has been proposed to be omitted.</p><p>This clause meant that all sports bodies would have to respond to queries submitted under RTI Act, 2005.</p><p>While this is omitted, another amendment said a new clause 14(2) has been introduced which proposes, “a recognised sports organisation, receiving grants or any other financial assistance from the central government under sub-section (1) or from a state government, shall be considered as a public authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005, with respect to utilisation of such grants or any other financial assistance.”</p><p>Under the omitted provision, an RTI query could be about any aspect of the functioning of the sports body but in the proposed amendment, it has been restricted to the financial aid received from the government.</p>
<p>Days after introducing a Bill on sports governance in Lok Sabha, the government has circulated amendments that practically take sports bodies like <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/bcci">BCCI</a> out of the ambit of Right to Information (RTI) and restricts its applications to federations that receive grants or other financial assistance from union or state governments.</p><p>Sports Minister <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tags/mansukh-mandaviya">Mansukh Mandaviya</a> had on July 23 introduced the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025 in Lok Sabha, which provides for establishing National Sports Governing Bodies, a National Sports Board, National Sports Election Panel and National Sports Tribunal for the development and promotion of sports.</p><p>However, within days, the government has introduced amendments to the Bill to bring only the sports bodies that receive government funds under the purview of the transparency regime.</p>.Explained | National Sports Bill: How it's different from National Sports Code.<p>It has omitted a provision that provided for bringing all sports bodies, including the BCCI, under the RTI regime. The amendments, which were circulated among MPs a couple of days ago, will come up in the House only during the discussion of the Bill but the government still has an option not to move it. As per one of the amendments, Clause 15(2) -- a recognised sports organisation shall be considered a public authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005 with respect to the exercise of its functions, duties and powers under this Act -- has been proposed to be omitted.</p><p>This clause meant that all sports bodies would have to respond to queries submitted under RTI Act, 2005.</p><p>While this is omitted, another amendment said a new clause 14(2) has been introduced which proposes, “a recognised sports organisation, receiving grants or any other financial assistance from the central government under sub-section (1) or from a state government, shall be considered as a public authority under the Right to Information Act, 2005, with respect to utilisation of such grants or any other financial assistance.”</p><p>Under the omitted provision, an RTI query could be about any aspect of the functioning of the sports body but in the proposed amendment, it has been restricted to the financial aid received from the government.</p>
