The aftermath of Glasgow

The National Sports Federations (NSFs) were brought under the Right to Information Act 2005 by a notification of the Sports Ministry on March 30, 2010.

As per the National Sports Development Code 2011 also the NSFs are expected to follow the provisions in the RTI Act. All of them had agreed also to be subjected to such provisions. It is also common knowledge that any organisation receiving a Government grant of Rs 10 lakh or above in a year should be subject to the RTI Act. The courts in India have upheld this contention. It is also well known that courts have also held that private bodies like the NSFs do perform a 'public function' at times, especially in the matter of selecting an "Indian team" or representing the country in international competitions. 

Yet, compliance, especially in the area of public disclosure might have been slack as far as the provisions in the RTI Act were concerned. 

In that context the latest notification of the Government to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and to the NSFs to place certain details of their activities including details of the delegations that went to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games is a welcome step, no matter that it might have been belated.

This looks to be an off-shoot of the incidents that took place in Glasgow. But better late than never. This should now become a rule rather than an exception.

The Government has asked the IOA) and the NSFs to place details of their delegations to the CWG by Aug 20, 2014.

However, in the present format that the details have been sought, they could turn out to be insufficient.

The PIB release of Aug 6, says,

(i)                 Complete details of officials who were sent to CWG by IOA/NSFs along with the amount paid such as air fare, boarding and lodging, local transportation, daily allowance etc.

(ii)               List of players (along with support personnel) who actually participated in Commonwealth Games.

What could be found out

“Who were sent to CWG by IOA/NSFs…” might not bring out the correct picture. Why not seek information on

“The complete list of accreditations sought and received from the Organizing Committee for the CWG in Glasgow on the request or recommendation of the IOA or on its behalf, as part of the Indian delegation or outside it, whether official or unofficial, and whether these accreditations exceeded the quota prescribed under the CGF rules.

“The complete list of coaches, managers and support personnel that formed the IOA delegation, whether they exceeded allocated quota for coaches/officials and whether all of them were accommodated in the games village and the expenses incurred on such support staff.

“The complete list of coaches not cleared by the Government and yet who might have been part of the Indian delegation in Glasgow, and who paid for their air fare, accommodation etc.”

In the immediate context of the Asian Games in Incheon, the demand of the Govt for the NSFs to place on their websites some details should also have included, apart from those listed.

Selection criteria should not be a secret!

Something like the following-

“The selection criteria to be adopted for selection of the Indian team for the Asian Games in Incheon,

“Whether these criteria adhere to the criteria fixed by the Government as per its guidelines for such events, if not the basis for such deviation in the criteria,

“Please justify criteria in comparison to standards in Asia for the season in each event where an Indian athlete is being selected.

“If performances in international competitions are being taken into consideration for the purpose of selection, please specify the nature of the competition and state whether it is a meet recognized by the international federation concerned and whether the results being claimed have been certified by the organisers through documentation.”

Government should seek such information to be available to it and to be displayed on the website weeks ahead of the actual selection of a team, not a day before the departure of a team. Many a time the media is kept in the dark about the composition of a team till hours before departure.

Let Ministry also disclose

As fairness would demand, the Ministry should also disclose on its website (and that of the concerned government departments and agencies), the number of people that went to Glasgow under the Government delegation, the delegation of agencies like Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the NADA, if any, details of the delegations, the expenses incurred by such delegation etc.

Public disclosure, inherent in the RTI Act, might not have been adhered to by the NSFs all these years, but from now on at least the Government should ensure compliance.

Many a time athletes do not come to know of selection standards until the eve of a championship that is being considered as “final selection trials”.