*Establishment of District Sports Councils in offing
Rajesh Dhar
JAMMU, Aug 28: Examining the existing guidelines of the Sports Council with regard to tenure of Principal office bearers of the State Sports Associations, the Sports Minister and the Standing Committee of J&K State Sports Council have desired that those Associations which have violated the existing guidelines should be strictly dealt with and their recognitions to be suspended till they implement the guidelines of the Council in letter and spirit and amend their Constitution.
As per the sources, to encourage professional management, good governance, transparency and democratic form of elections, the majority of the Standing Committee Members have endorsed the proposal with regard to implementation of latest Sports Code adopted by the Government of India in respect of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and National Sports Federations (NSFs) in future elections of the Associations.
Sources added that the Standing Committee in exercise of powers conferred under Rule-14 (xx) of the Constitution, has asked the various State Associations to follow the same Code, wherein the president of any recognized State Sports Association including the J&K Olympic Association (JKOA) can hold the office for a maximum period of 12 years with or without a break, while the Secretary General or Secretary and the Treasurer of any recognized State Sports Association including JKOA can serve a maximum of two successive terms of 4 years each after which a minimum cooling off period of 4 years will apply to seek fresh elections to either post. Moreover, the president, the secretary and the treasurer of any recognized State Sports Association including the JKOA will cease to hold that post on attaining the age of 70 years.
It has been observed that most of the Associations in our State are run by a same bunch of people as office bearers since the inception of these Associations, giving rise to monopoly, dictatorship and hampering sports in the State, rather serving as a stumbling block for promotion of sports and games. For that matter, implementation of GoIs latest Sports Code in the State in letter and spirit carries a great significance, because it will close doors for such heads of the Associations, who are ruling roost by enjoying power of pelf.
Sources said, that the Standing Committee has also recommended the proposal of establishment of District Sports Councils in 10 identified districts to the General Council, adding that the District Council should be of three members including one Council member to be nominated by the vice president Sports Council as chairman, District Youth Services and Sports Officer and Sports Council Officer as overall incharge of the District Council as Member Secretary, besides representatives of District Units of recognized Sports Associations (not exceeding 6).
Unquestionably the major rather the most important decision taken in the recent Standing Committee Meeting of the Council was the enhancement of food allowance, journey allowance, refreshment and lodging of the players within and outside the State, besides the provision of sending the teams outside the State via 3-Tier ACs or A-Class busses and providing A Class bus fare or SRTC Tariff in local tours of players.
Standing Committee has also deferred the consideration of the recognition of new State Sports Associations and has decided that the activities of these Associations at domestic level would be watched and the report placed before Standing Committee for consideration. These unrecognized Associa-tions include Throwball Assoc-iation, Rowing Association, Bridge Association, Malla-khamb Association, J&K Sepak Takraw Association, Shootingball Association, Triathlon Association, Motor Sports Association and J&K Amateur Soft Tennis Association.
Sources said, that the other major decisions taken by the Standing Committee of the State Sports Council included strengthening of the Engineering wing of the Council and creation of staff for the same, confirmation of action taken in upgradation on one post of Accounts Officer, three posts of Groundsmen and one post of Electrician, policy for distribution of sports gear to various districts, confirmation of the action taken by the vice president Sports Council and enhancement of Grant-in-Aid under Plan and Non Plan Sector for development of sports infrastructure and conduct of sports activities.
Observing that Rs 4 crore approved under Plan Sector for the year 2013-14 is quite insufficient to upgrade all the stadia/playfields in the State, the Standing Committee felt the need to enhance it to Rs 10 crore and the Sports Minister while supporting the issue desired that the proposal be sent to the Finance/P&D Department through Administrative Department for enhancement of the same.
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