Former Sports Minister Ajay Maken today welcomed the Delhi High Court decision to uphold the legal validity of the Sports Code which was passed by the government during his tenure, saying that his stand on the initiative has been vindicated.
The National Sports Development Code of India was passed by the government in 2011 under the initiative of Maken and primarily seeks to put restrictions on the age and tenure of office bearers, besides envisaging free and fair elections and transparent functioning of National Sports Federations.
"My stand on the Sports Code has been vindicated with the High Court supporting the Code which was envisaged in February 2011. This Code will ensure that the NSFs follow the age and tenure norms and also conduct the election in a free, fair and transparent manner through secret ballot as provided for in the National Sports Code," said Maken who served as Sports Minister in 2011-12.
Under the Sports Code, the age limit of all the office bearers will have to be 70 years.
The tenure regulations will, however, be applied to three office bearers only -- the president, secretary general/secretary and treasurer.
The president of any NSF may hold office for a maximum period of twelve years (three terms of four years) with or without break and secretary general/secretary and the treasurer may serve a maximum of two successive terms of four years each after which a minimum cooling off period of four years will apply to seek fresh election.
NSFs availing government grants will be declared as public authorities and brought under purview of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Notification and implementation of NADA Anti-Doping Rules; Guidelines for holding fair and transparent elections to NSFs will be applied under the Sports Code.
