Sports ministry responds to draft anti-fixing bill

Hardly convinced with the first draft of the proposed anti-fixing law, the sports ministry on Wednesday, demanded certain changes in the bill including a clearer definition of the term 'dishonesty' and plugging of loopholes which could encourage corrupt practices in events like IPL.

"We have drafted our response (to the law ministry's first proposed draft) and it has been sent to the Sports Minister. Unless the minister signs it, we can't reveal much about what recommendations have been made," said a ministry official.

The response includes demand for a clearer definition of 'dishonesty' and inclusion of club level competitions besides national and international sporting events so that corrupt practices in games like IPL and I-league are also adequately covered under the proposed law.

Law ministry sources, meanwhile, said that the draft has covered all inter-state and international tournaments but has not made any specific mention about club level tournaments like the Indian Premier League or football's I-League, which are franchise-based tournaments.

It said that the idea was to cover all sporting events and not to mention any particular game or tournaments.

There are also certain IOC guidelines which the sports ministry wants to be reflected in the draft as sports activities in the country needs to adhere to these.

A day earlier, the Sports Ministry had said that it was far from satisfied with the first draft of the proposed law sent to it by the Law Ministry and insisted that it intended to carry out "extensive modification" to the contents of the draft.