NEW DELHI: The National Sports Ethics Commission Bill, moved by MP Anurag Thakur, who is also former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, is ready to be tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Thakur had moved this Bill in 2016 to counter the growing menace of match-fixing, doping, age fraud and sexual harassment cases in sports. Apart from the imposition of a life ban, the Bill seeks a 10-year jail term for match-fixing and a financial penalty of five times of the bribe accepted by the corrupt players or officials.
Besides, the Bill also has a provision of a jail of six months and a fine of Rs 1 lakh in the cases involving age fraud. The Bill also seeks formation of a National Sports Ethics Commission comprising judges and eminent personalities to conduct trials, and enforce a code of ethics.
“I don’t know when the session will start but I am ready with my view point and (tabling) will depend whenever I get the opportunity to introduce it. But I would like it to be introduced as soon as possible and debated because this is one area where India should do well. Besides this will keep a check on corruption,” Thakur told The Tribune.
Thakur’s bill was prompted by the the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the BCCI during the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League in which S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankit Chavan were arrested for staying in touch with bookies.
Thakur also told The Tribune that he expects support across party lines as “Everyone loves sports and everyone loves the youth because they are the largest stakeholders and nobody will want them to be involved in drugs or in corruption while playing so I think the members will be more than happy to support it because this is nothing to do with an agenda of any political party but this is about the present and future of India.”
“You know once you increase the pay structure as far as the IPL or BCCI is concerned, why should anyone get into trying to make money by wrongdoings? So I recommended that they must be fined five times the match-fixing amount or must be imprisoned for ten years in jail. There must be some threat to such people,” Thakur said.
Picture courtesy: India Today
