Delhi HC Appoints Abhinav Bindra & MM Somaya in Committee Overseeing Sports Funds

The Delhi High Court recently appointed Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and former field hockey player MM Somaya to the committee overseeing disbursement of funds to various sports federations.

A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad also modified an order from June 2022 that directed that no government funds be spent on any National Sports Federation that was not in compliance with the sports code.

The Court said that it is including sportspersons to the committee to ensure that they are also involved in the process of disbursing funds so that the funds released by the government only go towards the betterment of athletes, their training, and ensuring that a good team is sent to represent the country at the Asian Games.

The committee in charge of overseeing the disbursement of funds to various sports federations currently consists of the Secretary of Department of Sports, the Director General of Sports Authority of India, and the Joint Secretary of Department of Sports.

The division bench passed the order while dealing with a petition filed by Senior Advocate Rahul Mehra challenging the government’s decision to renew recognition of several sports federations beginning in October 2020, despite the fact that they were allegedly not in compliance with the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011.

In June 2022, the High Court had stayed all funding to the sports federations which were not complying with the Code.