Drama witnessed in the first meeting of Working Group

The first meeting of the Working Group for re-drafting the National Sports Development Bill saw high drama with one of the members walking out, objecting to the presence of Sports Secretary P K Deb.
Lawyer Rahul Mehra staged a token walk out in protest against P K Deb, alleging that he had failed to implement the Sports Code with regard to Archery and Athletics federations.
Mehra, however, joined the meeting again soon after Deb left after briefing the members on the draft model rules to be framed under the bill.
Mehra felt that Deb had no "moral right" to brief the members since he has himself not implemented the Sports Code.

The 12-member committee, headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal and which also has ace shooter Abhinav Bindra and hockey player Viren Rasquinha as its members, was unanimous on age and tenure restrictions.
Hockey India secretary general, Narinder Batra, who represents the National Sports Federations is said to have also agreed to the age and tenure restrictions for office-bearers.

The next meeting is scheduled for April 11.
The Sports Ministry had constituted a Working Group for re-drafting the National Sports Development Bill, which was initially drafted in 2011, in a bid to bring about transparency and good governance in the federations.
The government felt that further consultations were required with the stake-holders on the provisions of the bill.

To facilitate the holding of such consultations and prepare a revised draft of the bill, as well as draft rules to be formulated under the bill, it had been decided to establish a Working Group.
The committee will be submitting the draft bill by May 31 and draft rules by August 31.