CAG audit of National Sports Federations - the need of the hour for Indian sports?

The All India Football Federation is one of the national sports federations in India that is currently not subject to CAG audit

Recently, the Delhi High Court agreed with the contention of the Delhi government that the latter has the right to subject even private companies which supply power/electricity to the residents of Delhi to CAG audit, as public money is involved.

The government needs to take a similar stand in the case of National Sports Federations too, which are autonomous bodies receiving government funding.

The government gives away substantial funds to national sports federations in the form of grants, and it also meets the expenditure on the training and competitions of national teams. The government also pays for the salary of coaches, support staff and equipment. In return for the funds received from the government, the NSFs just give a piece of paper called “Utilization Certificate” at the end of the year.

Some of the NSFs generate huge funds through sponsorships and other means, but the government does not make them accountable for the money thus generated by them. This is something which the government needs to look into. Since the government is spending public money on NSFs, it needs to exercise its right to subject the NSFs to CAG audit. The NSFs which claim to be transparent need not object to this, unless they have something to hide.

Like in the case of the NSFs being asked to prepare an annual calendar of their events under the LTDP, the same NSFs should be asked to prepare an annual budget in which they should come up with the details of their anticipated income and expenditure for the year. In that statement they should reflect their sources of income including sponsorships, grants from their respective international federations, affiliation fee from tournament organizers, television coverage rights, etc.

On the expenditure side they should include the expenses to be incurred on the training and competitions of national teams as well as all the expenses on all their sports promotion activities. If the expenditure exceeds the income from all sources, the government should step in to cover the deficit. At the end of the year, the entire account should be audited by CAG. Such an action from the government is adequately covered under the principles of “Practices of good governance”, which is emphasized in the Sports Code.

Autonomous bodies like the Sports Authority of India, National Dope Testing Laboratory Delhi, etc. are subjected to CAG audit. That being the case, there is no reason why the National Sports Federations which also claim to be autonomous bodies and also receive government grants should not be brought under the ambit of CAG audit.

It would be in everyone’s best interests if the Indian government took a call on this sooner rather than later.