Indian Sports Ministry on Thursday released a Draft National Sports Governance Bill, 2024, seeking advice from the stakeholders and general public before the bill becomes law.

Under the proposed bill, a Court Of Arbitration For Sport (CAS)-styled Appellate Sports Tribunal is proposed to resolve athletes’ and officials’ disputes instead of approaching various courts of the country. The Supreme Court will be open to hearing their case only if the verdict from to-be India’s highest sporting court is unsatisfactory.

The bill has also proposed a striking Sports Regulatory Board of India (SRBI) to be formed, on the lines of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which will look into funding to governance-related issues in sporting bodies of India.

A proposal to pave the way for any citizen of India above the age of 25 to contest for the top posts in the sporting federations’ elections with a proposer and seconder in place has also been made.

The impending cases in sporting federations related to governance issues will be transferred to the tribunal on a government-specified date, according to Section 29 of the proposed bill, if the Parliament clears the Draft Bill.

‘The matters transferred to the Appellate Sports Tribunal under sub-section (1) may be heard and adjudicated from the stage at which such dispute was pending in the court or the authority, as the case may be or hear the matter afresh if it so deems appropriate,’ the draft states.

‘no civil court shall have jurisdiction to entertain any suit or proceeding in respect of any matter on which the Appellate Sports Tribunal is empowered… and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred by or under this Bill,’ section 30 adds.