Introduction

With the modernization of the world, we witnessed the development of the sports industry. This development led to the field of sports being one of the largest industries in the world. It is pertinent to note that the sports industry contributes up to 3% to the GDP of the world. It goes without saying that dispute resolution is one of the most important aspects of contemporary times. Dispute settlement can be done via varied methods, the two primary methods being judicial and out of court settlement. The out of court dispute settlement has various advantages which are as follow:

1. Less time involved
2. Less Cost Involved
3. Less complex legal formalities

The sports industry includes commercial and contractual disputes, regulatory disputes, and quasi-criminal disputes. The parties involved in the sports-related disputes have three ways by which they can put forth their concern. Firstly, complaining to the internal authorities for resolving international and national disputes; Secondly, instituting the criminal and civil suit against the parties in the court of law, and thirdly, through the body of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR). 

Problems faced by the Indian Sports Persons and Dispute Resolution situation in the origin

The dispute within the National Sports Federation (NSF) involves disputes and grievances arising out of a selection of athletes for representation at national and international levels, disciplinary issues with the athletes, ban imposed on athletes due to age fraud, gender inequality, maintenance and submission of medical records, and financial issues. These disputes have to be settled by the forum set up by the National Sports Federation (NSF) but, unfortunately, the forum has not been able to give effective remedies for disputes. The additional failure of the forum was to incorporate arbitration clauses in their regulation entailing athletes’ final recourse to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS). The NSF has also failed in providing adequate internal dispute resolution mechanism and gained popularity through two high profile cases: 

1. Rajiv Dutta v. Union of India The female boxer Sarita Devi with senior advocate Rajiv Dutta filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the decision of International Boxing Association (AIBA), which had refused to accept the bronze medal won by Sarita Devi in the Asian Games. Advocate Rajiv Dutta argued that the forum should take the notes of the rules and regulation of the CAS.
2. The former Olympic Wrestler Sushil Kumar with his learned counsel filed writ petition against the arbitrary selection procedure adopted by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the Olympic 2016. The Ministry of Youth Sports and Federation issued the guidelines that the selection procedure would be effective, transparent and ensure a fair grievance system for safeguarding the interest of the sports persons. They had also mentioned that there is a constitutional right for a sports person to put forth their grievance with the CAS. 

Major Steps taken in Sports Disputes in India

The National Sports Federation has established a governing body for the regulation of disputes. The governing body has built certain mechanisms like penalties during the match, initiation of disciplinary action against the sportsperson, and questioning of breach of rules of sports. The governing body has established procedures curbing breach of rules in a structured manner and applied it in a peculiar position to the sports where the governing body would act as a judge and prosecutor. 

The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) had drafted the National Sports Development Bill in 2011 which had introduced the office of Sports Ombudsman to resolve disputes in the fields of sports. Under this bill, the appeal would lie with the National Sports Federation, Indian Olympic Association or with the Sports ombudsman as the case may be. 

Suggestions

The authorities and the Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports have failed to resolve the disputes speedily. The appropriate authorities should consider the following points as a point of recommendation:

1. The legislation should form a commission that would regulate sports in India and also advise the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
2. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports should allocate funds for the promotion of sports in rural and urban areas. The commission of sports should provide advisory services to the Sports ministry for promotion and development of sports in rural and urban areas.
3. The Sports ministry should empower the sports commission regarding resolving the disputes in India.
4. The Ministry of Sports should scrap the existing legislation as it is not functioning well in the country. They should introduce new policies or guidelines or enforce the existing policies correctly which provides assistance to the sports industry.
5. The Sports Commission should contain the following members as follow:

1. They should have proper knowledge of Arbitration and Disputes Resolution.
2. There should be allocation of funds and regulation of associations for which they were formed.
3. The retired judges, arbitrators and other staff are required for this commission.
4. There should be a timely amendment in the legislation according to the UNESCO Treaty. 

Conclusion

The development of the sports industry is also facing some issues related to the rules, ban of players from their respective sports and so on. As the sports industry is still in a developing phase, it is necessary for an internal examination for the speedy redressal of such disputes, as the career of the sportsperson would take a backseat because of the lack of measures. 

References

The Peculiarity of dispute resolution in Sports; By: Senior Associate, Sports Law Practice, Corporate Law Division Lakshmi Kumaran & Sridharan, New Delhi. Available at: https://www.lakshmisri.com/newsroom/archives/The-peculiarity-of-dispute-resolution-in-sports# 

Resolving the Disputes in Sports; By WIPO: Available at: https://www.wipo.int/ip-sport/en/dispute.html 
The Current Position of India in Sports Disputes Resolution; By: Rachit Garg: Available at: https://blog.ipleaders.in/current-position-india-sports-dispute-resolution/