Himachal bill to bring sports bodies under government control

Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh

Shimla, April 7 (IANS)

The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday introduced the Himachal Pradesh Sports (Registration, Recognition and Regulation of Associations) Bill of 2015 in the state assembly to bring sports bodies, including the state cricket association, under its control.

The bill seeks to facilitate and regulate the activities of sports associations and to provide recognition and regularisation of their right to represent the state of Himachal Pradesh.

Introducing the bill, chief minister Virbhadra Singh said every sports association other than a primary sports body will be required to be registered under this act.

As per the bill, the bye-laws of the association should include that the sports association will be elected in a democratic manner and periodical elections will be held once in every four years. There has to be proper procedure for elections in the bye-laws.

It says that an association undertaking sports activities at the state or district level and which is already registered under the societies act will have to bring its bye-laws in consonance with the provisions of the sports act.

The bill would ultimately give the government the power to keep a tab on the sports associations, right from elections, activities to accounts in the interest of sports and sportspersons.

As many as 42 sports associations, including the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) administered by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament Anurag Thakur, which got into a controversy for alleged irregularities with political linkages to the BJP regime in the past, have been included in the purview of the bill.

The Congress government had enacted the sports act in the state in its previous tenure in 2006 also. It was, however, repealed later by the BJP government which was opposed to the idea of bringing sports bodies under government control.