Indian sports federations, ministry circular and the mail 'khel'

Not following the sports code and persisting with administrators older than 70 is a sure-fire way to draw the ire of the sports ministry. Just ask the Archery Association of India, which was derecognised by the ministry for doing exactly that.

Not holding elections as per the sports code isn’t the only way that federations can face the ministry’s censure though. Turns out not checking their emails and not downloading circulars from the Ministry of Youth Affairs website may also land them in a soup.

The ministry, in its circular dated May 22, had written to the Indian Olympic Association and to all the national sports federations in this regard. “...it has been decided that henceforth, communications required to be sent to all NSFs/ a group of NSFs with copy to the IOA, would be uploaded on (the) MYAS website in a specific database for this purpose. An email will also be sent to a nodal email id of each NSF,” reads the circular sent out by undersecretary to the government of India, AK Patro.

“... failure to take necessary action for want of downloading communications from the database on MYAS website would be construed as non-compliance of (the) sports code and action (will be) taken accordingly,” the circular adds.

Accordingly, all the federations were asked to forward a nodal email address to the ministry within a week. This direction, however, has been roundly ignored; as of Monday, only 24 of the 54 recognised federations have presented their details.

The list of sports bodies that have defaulted is led by the Squash Rackets Federation of India, whose international body is headed by the Indian Olympic Association president N Ramachandran.

Major federations such as the National Rifle Association of India, Rowing Federation of India, All India Tennis Association, and the Indian Kayaking & Canoeing Association are yet to adhere to the direction.

It was perceived that a lot of time was wasted while sending the letters. Besides, some of the letters were returned undelivered because the correspondence address was wrong.

“If we have to send 60 letters, our people will lose a lot of time just trying to get them into envelopes. It was thus decided to use emails,” joint secretary Onkar Kedia said.

There is another part of the order. ‘Now the federations cannot claim they haven’t received the communication. The onus is on them to keep a tab,” Kedia added.

However, in specific cases, such as when the ministry is serving notice to a particular federation for non-compliance, the old practice of using couriers will be revived.