Reforming Indian Sports: Will the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 Bring Transparency or More Red Tape?

Introduction

For a very long time, Sports have been a paradox. On one side, athletes have brought medals like Olympic medals, world titles, and huge pride to the nation and on the other side, issues like inefficient, corrupt, unaccountable are marked towards the national sports federations like the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and several national sports federations. So, these issues led to repeated criticisms towards national sports federations for non-transparent elections, financial mismanagement and overlooking of the needs and well being of the athletes.

With the visionary goal of improving the system, the Government introduced the National Sports Governance Act, 2025. This act widely proclaimed as one of the most comprehensive legal reforms since independence, it seeks to resolve the deep-rooted issues- but does the act truly lead to transparency or more red tape? This analysis emphasizes upon the new law’s provisions, how it leads to transparency, or killing of governance of sports federations.

Aims and Provisions

By replacing the non-binding guidelines with enforceable laws, this act serves as a legal backbone for governing sports in India. This act establishes two authorities: the National Sports Board (NSB), which sees the regulation and recognition of sports bodies and the National Sports Tribunal (NST), which is formed to resolve the disputes, also done the athlete selection and federation elections- with powers akin to a civil court. All major sports committees, from paralympic and Olympic committees to national and regional federations, now fall under its ambit. The act introduces athlete representation in executive committees, mandatory registration for sports federations, prescribes maximum terms for office post holders and ensures periodic elections.

Building Transparency

The most reforming promise of the Act is the insistence on transparency. In the past, Indian sports bodies often guarded from public scrutiny and operated with limited accountability, leading to repeated allegations of opaque funding, nepotism and weak athlete welfare. The law changes this in several ways:

• Under Right to Information Act (RTI), the act makes recognised bodies recipients of government funds as “public authorities”, leading to opening up their functioning to public inspection.

• The act changes the Election procedures- dedicated panels for fair elections, regular polls and the new Safe Sports Policy which ensure internal grievance redressal for issues like abuse and harassment specifically for minors and women.

• The newly formed National Sports Board (NSB) is tasked with effecting welfare policies, enforceable codes of ethics, collaborating with international sports bodies and focusing upon marginalized groups like women and minors.

• By adopting other countries like Australia or UK governance norms, India strengthens its case for credibility in the international sports community.

These highlighted provisions of the act are designed to reform dubious processes, give athletes representation in the governance and ensure that every complaint has a clear pathway to Justice.

Red tape concern

Apart from the Provisions which leads to transparency, critics argue that the act is doing the opposite which was earlier promised, leading to creating new bureaucratic hurdles without addressing core problems.

• Historically, Sports federations, especially BCCI, have asserted autonomy. Sometimes, government oversight may violate international rules (such as International Olympic Committees stance against state interference).

• The “Delegation-driven framework”, which the law delegates substantial rule-making powers to the executive: important details, from sports bodies standards of recognition to Safe Sports Policy procedures, will be filled in by government-issued rules- not by Parliament. This framework places power in the hands of administrators, diffusing direct accountability which potentially leads to arbitrary or inconsistent rulemaking.

• Also, one of the contentions is that Multiple watchdogs- the NSB, NST, election panels etc.- may lead to conflicting jurisdictions and procedural overlap. For example, the NST is formed for quick justice, but it creates delays when the option to appeal NST decisions in High Courts.

However, critics say that entrenched interests could simply realign rather than be uprooted without robust oversight or clarity on the independence of these new institutions.

What Will the Act Achieve?

After analysing the key provisions of the act, how it creates transparency in the governance or how it leads to red tape concern. We say that if the act successfully implemented, National Sports Governance Act could:

• Make the federation's operations routine and transparent.

• Complaint and grievance mechanisms become more visible and accessible.

• Ensure athletes are proactively involved in the administration.

Moreover, if administrative confusion prevails, the following risks could be:

• Bureaucratic responses to urgent issues will become slow.

• If the delegation is unchecked, it will create new pathways for politically influenced control.

• Federations and athletes could be burdened by procedural complexity that deters engagement.

Conclusion

The National Sports Governance Act, 2025 marked a transformative moment in India Sports Law, ensuring to transform non-transparent, opaque practices into a governance driven by fairness, transparency and athlete welfare. By forming the bodies like NSB and NST, ensure athlete representation, and extend the Safe Sports Policy which ensures internal grievance redressal for issues like abuse and harassment. Also, this Act emphasizes upon the Right to Information (RTI) framework to sports federations.

Yet the aims and objectives of the act is not guaranteed, the conflicting jurisdictions of multiple watchdogs, delegation of power to the executive and violation of the international rules by government oversight raises serious concerns toward this act. If this act is implemented poorly, it could lead to slow decision making, dilute accountability, and entrench bureaucratic mechanisms rather than athlete empowerment. So, ultimately if the act is implemented with integrity and clarity, the act will lead India's sports governance to global standards, ensuring that athletes are the true beneficiaries. However, the next coming years will determine whether this reform is revolutionary or regulatory overreach.

Author: Akshat Singh , in case of any queries please contact/write back to us via email to chhavi@khuranaandkhurana.com or at  Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorney.

References

1. Shubhi, National Sports Governance Act, 2025: A Statutory Framework for Ethical and Transparent Sports Administration, SCC Times, https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2025/08/19/national-sports-governance-act-2025-india-sports-legal-reform/ [Accessed 25 September 2025].

2. Chauhan D., National Sports Governance Act 2025 (Rules & Key Objectives). Sports Board India, 25 September, https://sportsboardindia.com/general/national-sports-governance-act-2025/ [Accessed 25 September 2025].

3. Anand, M. & Joshi, A., Between Promise and Practice: Reading the Gaps in the National Sports Governance Act. Law School Policy Review, 16 September, https://lawschoolpolicyreview.com/2025/09/16/between-promise-and-practice-reading-the-gaps-in-the-national-sports-governance-act/ [Accessed 28 September 2025].