Kapil Sibal highlights need for anti-fixing law

Union Law and Justice Minister Kapil Sibal on Saturday highlighted the need for a stringent anti-fixing law to tackle dishonest practices in sports.

"The law ministry is in consultation with the Attorney General. The new law will not be applicable to cricket alone, but to other sports as well. The bill is still in its draft stage. I have also met Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley and IPL chief Rajiv Shukla regarding the bill and both have pledged their support," Sibal said.

Sibal further said the law will cover all people-including spectators, players, administrators, and everyone involved in all sports in India. The overseas players, if playing in India, are caught in such activities will also come under this law.

Sibal added that it was unfortunate that 10 years ago, when a similar kind of incident happened, no such action was taken. But the Central government now wants to take a strong action in this regard.

According to television reports former BCCI president Shashank Manohar is reportedly agreed to be the interim BCCI president.

Former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad on Saturday said spot fixing is deep-rooted and has hit cricket's very foundation.

Hinting that more names are likely to come out of the cupboard, Azad said: "It seems its (spot fixing scandal) is deep rooted, and it has hit the very foundation, because you will find lot of other big names coming out of the closet. Reports that I have got indicate that lot of associations also have direct links with these people. Through my sources, I have gathered that there might be a few more, whether political or non-political people, involved in this," Azad said.

Earlier Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan had lost all credibility and should resign on moral grounds.

Demanding his resignation, Nath further said: "He allied with his family and executed match-fixing. Whatever has happened is sad, and people have lost all trust in the game they love. The government is working on the entire issue to bring in stringent laws to curb dishonesty.