Siddiqui submits memorandum to Governor against Sports Bill

A delegation of sports bodies, led by the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui, today met Governor D Y Patil and asked him to reject the Sports Bill passed by the Assembly in the budget session recently.
The new legislation empowers the state government to regulate all the sports bodies and makes it mandatory for the associations to get themselves registered first with the government.
They are now required to apply for formal affiliation to the Bihar State Sports Council which will be constituted by the government soon.
The legislation is seen as efforts by the state government to queer pitch of RJD President Lalu Prasad, who is the president of the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA), which is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

In the memorandum, Siddiqui, who is the president of Bihar Badminton Association, said that the Sports Bill brought by the Bihar government, was in total "contravention" of the Olympic charter.
The charter insists on autonomy to be granted to sports and sports activities and as such would never be acceptable to the National Sports Federations and Indian Olympics Association as Olympic charter discipline is supreme, the memorandum said.
Siddiqui had torn off a piece of the Bihar Sports (Registration, Recognition & Regulation of Sports Association) Bill, 2013 when it was introduced and passed in the state assembly during budget session recently.