Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Dec 07: It was 2009, when last time members of AN State Sports Council (SSC) were nominated as per the existing byelaws of the State Sports Council. The three year tenure of the then members expired in December 2012.
Before the tenure ended, there was a move to frame new byelaws of SSC. A committee was formed for this purpose. But the committee never submitted its reports. As the extension of tenure of the existing office bearers were not extended by the then Lt. Governor, SSC became defunct in December 2012.
This clearly means that at present the last byelaw of AN SSC is in place. As per the present byelaw, Secretary (Sports & YA) should have become the President of SSC. But declaring Chief Secretary as President of SSC before notifying the new byelaws and not getting it ratified by the old committee by extending their tenure is not a right move in legal perspective.
However the intention of the administration cannot be questioned at all. In the present scenario declaring the present Committee as Ad-hoc committee and allowing them to frame a new byelaw of SSC as per National Sports Policy and incorporating the needs of the sports fraternity of these islands will be the right move to give the new SSC a legal standing. This may hardly take a fortnight.
After the new byelaw is framed, Gazette notification should be issued. Any move to register it under societies act will not bear any fruit. Any registered body under Societies Act can get financial aid from government, but cannot distribute it among other registered State level Associations. So the best option will be issuing a gazette notification as in the case of West Bengal State Sports Council.
One of the new members of the reconstituted State Sports Council was the coach of Athletes of Kerala who disguised as Island players in National level. So he will be definitely under the purview of the present investigation. Continuing him as a member of the new SSC will be of embarrassment to the administration.
As old habits die hard, it can be assumed that he will continue to poke his nose in all the matters of SSC. He will be an embarrassment in the long run. However if corrective measures are taken before the first meeting of SSC; it will send the right signals to others who are hiding certain facts about their association with the ill-fated ANSOA.
Administration seems to be serious about bringing sports on the right track. If the administration can overcome these small hiccups, and take criticism in the right stride and take corrective measures, there is a ray of hope at the end of the tunnel.
