Fair hearing is a well settled principle of natural justice which enables the party to move to the unbiased adjudicating authority if the rights of any such party or a person are infringed . However, the same principle has been ignored while adjudicating any sports matter be it related to match fixing, sexual harassment, age fraud, etc. The concerned sports authority takes the cognizance of the matter and creates a committee that work autonomously and investigate the matter. Since, the committee formed may pass decision in the favor of the sports authority that appointed it; thereby it lacks transparency and might affect the career of that sports person adversely.
In 2013 IPL spot fixing case, S Sreesanth who was the part of the squad of 2011 World Cup winning team was booked under the illegal betting and spot fixing charges. The advisory committee formed by BCCI imposed a life ban upon him, after which he challenged the decision in the Supreme Court where the Hon’ble Court in 2019 released the life ban imposed upon him. However, the court took almost 6 years to adjudicate upon the matter and give relief to him. This was not the first incident where the court took so many years to adjudicate upon the matter. There have been several instances where the court found themselves in a position where they were helpless to adjudicate upon the matter as there was no law to regulate such issues.
The best way to adjudicate any sports matter in India is to move ahead with the provisions of Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 or appoint a mediator. Since, the decision of the mediator is not binding upon the parties it’s better to move ahead with the provisions of arbitration.
Arbitration is one of the best methods to adjudicate upon the matter where any sports related conflict has arisen. In India any matter related to arbitration is dealt by the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 also known as Indian Arbitration Act. The Indian Arbitration Act is based on the UNICITRAL Model Law. The term arbitration means that if there is any dispute between two persons the matter despite of going to the court is resolved by an arbitrator who acts independently and passes an award which in terms of Indian Arbitration Act is referred to as “domestic award.” Since there has been a revolution in the sports in the past few years be it in terms of fitness, broadcasting rights, countries own leagues, etc. or fantasy cricket league apps but the one place where revolution is required is in the legal framework of the sports industry. Currently the disputes are either resolved by the advisory committee established by the authority or is done by the court which unnecessarily increases the burden on it and is a time consuming process. It is necessary to give a different shape to it and refer sports related disputes to the Arbitration Board which will not only help in maintaining transparency but will also help in the speedy disposal of the case.
In India also the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process must be adapted since the arbitrators appointed will have the expert knowledge in that field which will not only provide faster disposal of the case but will also help in reducing the burden over the court. The success of CAS is the testimony to the ADR process and India must adapt it and set an example to the outside world.