New Delhi | Leaders of several opposition parties on Wednesday urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to refer the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025 and the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2025 to a joint committee of Parliament for further scrutiny.
In a joint letter to the Speaker, the opposition leaders said the two significant bills are listed for consideration and passage in the House and there is need for a broader consensus on the bills considering their national importance.
"We the undersigned Members of Parliament representing various Opposition Parties write to respectfully draw your attention to two significant Bills listed for consideration and passage in the House: The National Sports Governance Bill, 2025 and The National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, 2025," they said in their letter.
The leaders said the bills propose wide-ranging reforms in the governance, regulation, and ethical oversight of sports in India.
"They have serious implications for our sportspersons, sports federations, and India's standing in international sporting bodies," they said.
"In view of their national importance, the need for broad consensus, and the value of consulting relevant stakeholders, we respectfully request that both these Bills be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for further deliberation," the opposition leaders said.
"A JPC would ensure a more comprehensive and participatory process, allowing for careful scrutiny of the provisions, potential implications, and alignment with international standards. We hope this request will be taken into account to help ensure fair and effective governance reforms in the Indian sporting ecosystem," they also asserted in their letter.
The National Sports Governance Bill seeks to provide for recognition of national sports bodies and regulate their functioning while the National Anti-Doping Bill aims to strengthen India's anti-doping framework.
The signatories to the letter include Congress' K C Venugopal, Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh, NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule, TMC's Kakoli Ghosh Dastikar, DMK's K Kanomozhi, Shiv Sena (UBT) Arvind Sawant, RSP's N K Premachandran, VCK's D Ravi Kumar, MDMK's Durai Vaiko and IUML's E T Mohammed Bashir, among others.
The government has said that if the opposition will create uproar in the House and not allow the House to function, they would be constrained to pass the legislative business in the din.
The opposition has been creating uproar in both houses of Parliament on their demand for a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which they allege is aimed at disenfranchising a large number of voters.
