SC mulls inquiry panel for 'deeper' probe into affairs of sports bodies

The Supreme Court on Thursday hinted at appointing an inquiry commission for a deeper probe into the affairs of sports associations in the country and said aside from sporting activities all kinds of things are happening in them reported news agency PTIA bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was hearing a plea of two national Kabaddi players in which it had previously sought views for a CBI probe into the affairs of the Amateur Kabaddi Federation of India AKFI and the International Kabaddi FederationWe are inclined to appoint a commission of inquiry for a deeper probe into the affairs of Kabaddi associations because other than sports activities all kinds of things are happening in these bodies We also intend to then expand the scope of commission of inquiry to other sports associations the bench said reported PTIAdditional solicitor general K M Nataraj appearing for the Centre said that pursuant to the benchs order of February 4 the players were sent for the tournament in Iran where they emerged triumphant and won goldAs far as the CBI probe is concerned Nataraj said modalities were being worked outHe sought two more weeks to work on it following which the bench said it will inquire into the affairs of all state and international sports associations in the country and dissolve them if a need arisesThe top court allowed the intervention applications of several former players and existing players for giving suggestions on the working of sports associations and the investigation needed and posted the hearing four weeks later reported PTIOn February 6 the top court asked the AKFI administrator and former judge S P Garg to hand over charge to its elected governing body to allow player participation in a sporting event which was to start on February 20 in IranThe top court was hearing the plea of Priyanka and Pooja seeking direction to AKFI unaffiliated by the International Kabaddi Federation for sending them to Asian Kabaddi ChampionshipIt previously directed the Centre to explore diplomatic channels for the resolution of the conflict over the recognition of the sports associations most urgently the Kabaddi Federation of IndiaThe director CBI would suggest an investigation mechanism for effective domestic and international probe with the assistance of international investigating agencies such as the INTERPOL into the affairs of the sports federation it said reported PTIThe top court also sought to know the measures to ensure Kabaddi players and other sports persons were allowed to participate in international competitions including the Asian Kabaddi Championship in IranThe international federation deaffiliated AKFI in July last year barring Kabaddi teams from participating in several global events reported PTIThe women players who moved the top court sought a direction to the Centre to take steps for restoring the affiliation of AKFITwo former players who are Arjuna Awardees have also intervened in the matter and apprised the court about the affairs of AKFI through their counsel senior advocate Gopal SankaranarayananWith inputs from PTIatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params