Rules set for awards

New Delhi: Aiming to avoid controversy during the naming of athletes for the national sports awards, the government on Friday issued guidelines, incorporating a number of conditions to make the selection process transparent and time-bound.

The standard operating procedure issued by the sports ministry said that only authorised signatories should send nominations, and sportspersons penalised or against whom enquiries were pending/ ongoing for use of drugs/ substances would not be eligible for the awards.

A copy of the nominations will be sent to the concerned NSF for verification of details and achievements stated in the form and for checking if the athlete has ever been warned/ penalised for any unfair practice like age fraud/ sexual harassment, doping etc.

All details in this regard will have to be given by the NSF along with the verification report, the ministry said. “The authorised signatory for sending nominations will be: the Indian Olympic Association president/ secretary general, NSFs’ president/ secretary general (in the case of cricket, president/ secretary of the BCCI).”