Only sportspersons should manage respective bodies: Madras HC

CHENNAI: Deploring the poor state of affairs of sports in the country, the Madras High Court on Tuesday refused to reverse the verdict of a single judge that sports bodies shall be managed only by sportspersons and not politicians who lack expertise.

The first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed a writ appeal filed by the Tamil Nadu Athletic Association seeking to set aside the order recently passed by Justice R Mahadevan.

Flaying the association for filing the appeal, the bench pointed out that the facilities offered to sportspersons in the country are worst even though they play for their respective teams, district, state and the country. In contrast, the politicians, who are in top positions in the sports organisations, enjoy good facilities, though having no connection with sports.

“Why should politicians enter into management of sports bodies? They are coming only to take away all the facilities that should go to deserving sportspersons,” the bench said. The court further asked why a person having any affiliation to a political party be appointed as the chairman, president or vice president of sports organisations, when it is not their profession.

The court also noted the problems sportspersons have to endure even at the level of coaches and why these coaches have to be booked under criminal laws for worst behavior. Issuing a set of fourteen directives, Justice Mahadevan directed the State government to consider creating a legal framework for statutory regulation of the functioning of sports organisations/clubs/associations including the State unit of national sports federation in every field of sports. He also pitched for electing only sportspersons for heading sport bodies among other directives to improve functioning.