NEW DELHI: The Sports Ministry has declared the formation of a six-member committee, which will be accountable for reviewing and recommending the government on all awards given out in Indian sport including cash prizes as well, Times of India reports.
The retired Justice Indermeet Kaur Kocchar will head the committee, which will look into the nominations for prestigious honours such as the Khel Ratna Award, Arjuna Awards, Dronacharya Awards, Dhyan Chand Awards, Rashtriya Khel Ratna Protsahan Puruskar and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad trophies especially.
The ministry is yet to announce the sixth member of the committee, the other four being former badminton player Ashwini Nachappa, luge champion Shiva Keshavan, ex-Infosys director Mohandas Pai and Times Digital chief editor Rajesh Kalra.
The development has come months after a major controversy had erupted over star wrestler Bajrang Punia accusing the government of bias towards cricketers due to an inconsistent policy of rating players between cricket and other Olympic Sports, which led to Indian captain Virat Kohli winning the Khel Ratna award despite getting lesser votes, according to reports.
Punia was about to move court, only to be convinced by his mentor and fellow wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt to change his mind.
The committee is expected to submit its first report within the next 10 days to the ministry.
