Amid strong opposition from Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, the state legislative assembly on Thursday passed the much-hyped Himachal Pradesh Sports (Registration, Recognition & Regulation of Associations) Bill, 2015.
The bill was passed after a sharp exchange of the words between chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his archrival, former CM and leader of the Opposition Prem Kumar Dhumal, with both accusing each other of “bending backwards to promote cricket tournaments in the state”.
Soon after the question hour, Virbhadra briefed the House about the bill’s objectives. “At present there’s no regulatory framework for these sports associations and the bill aims to correct this. It proposes to democratise sports bodies and regulate them for the purpose of legislation, elections, maintenance of accounts and financial accountability and also define the rights and obligations of these associations for promoting sports in the state from village to state level,” he said.