Apex industry body Assocham has asked the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to bring the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) under the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act in order to give it legitimacy as the national federation for cricket.
“The BCCI is not a registered National Sports Federation as it does not take any grants from the government and thus it cannot be brought under the RTI Act, but if the National Draft on Sports Development Bill 2013 is finally passed by the Parliament, then BCCI may not be able to use the word ‘India’,” the industry body said in a letter to Jitendra Singh, state minister for Youth Affairs and Sports.
As per the Draft National Sports Development Bill 2013, only those federations who come under the RTI ambit will have the right to use ‘India’ as the team name.
“The Bill should have its focus on three major aspects viz. encouraging privatization through public-private partnership (PPP) mode, transforming India as a manufacturing base for sports’ equipments and ensuring job security and incentives to sportspersons,” said D S Rawat, secretary general of Assocham.