Respect High Court's decision but will keep helping athletes, asserts Kiren Rijiju

Respect High Court's decision but will keep helping athletes, asserts Kiren Rijiju

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Kiren Rijiju asserted to help the athletes as usual

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Press Release

Indian Sports minister Kiren Rijiju stated that he respects the High Court’s decision to withdraw the recognition of all 54 NSFs, but assures that the ministry will keep helping the athletes. As per the norms, the NSFs won’t be eligible for funding if they are not granted recognition.

The Sports Ministry, as per the directives of the Delhi High Court, withdrew the recognition of all 54 National Sports Federation (NSF) a few weeks ago. Without recognition, the associations won’t be eligible for funds from the government, which are used for conducting training camps. But Indian Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that he respects the decision of the High Court, even though he asserted to keep helping the athletes as usual.

“We cannot disrespect the decision of the court; we have to abide by the court's decision. But we will keep helping athletes. If NSFs didn't get the recognition, then we have to give them other options because if there is no recognition, we cannot fund any of them. Sports federations can only get money when the government is giving them recognition," said Kiren Rijiju, reported ANI.

The NSFs are granted annual recognition in January each year, but the process was delayed in 2020, due to the negligence of the Sports Ministry. Meanwhile, the lockdown measures further pushed back the legal formalities, following which the Delhi High Court decided to de-recognise the associations. Even though the decision might not have a huge impact right now, with sports activities largely inactive, it could, however, definitely hamper the training camps once they resume, especially with the Tokyo Olympics less than a year away.

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