Indian cricket board worried by “gov’t interference”

NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The Indian Cricket Board  (BCCI) has thrown its weight behind a protest against sweeping  government reforms intended to make the country’s sports  federations more transparent.
The National Sports Development Bill, which seeks to limit  the tenure of all sports administrators and bring the  federations under the scope of the country’s Right to  Information (RTI) act, has already been rejected by the Indian  Olympic Association (IOA).
“While we are happy with the accountability factor, we are  not really happy with the interference of the government in  sports bodies,” BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar  Shetty told reporters in Mumbai.
“We feel there is no reason for the government to interfere  in the affairs of the BCCI.”
In June the International Cricket Council (ICC) ordered its  members to free themselves from government interference or face  sanctions and the bill, if passed, could become a headache for  the world’s richest cricket board.
The BCCI remains a rare Indian federation that does not take  government grants and holds regular elections and Sports  Minister Ajay Maken said the government was not seeking to exert  any control over its affairs, merely make it more accountable.
“How bringing a Sports Body under RTI is tantamount to  controlling it, I fail to understand,” Maken wrote on his  Twitter page.