Urban elite can't monopolise sports infrastructure: SC

NEW DELHI: Counting sports facilities as community resources, Supreme Court has said these cannot be concentrated in the hands of the rich and elite in urban areas even though many youngsters from poor rural backgrounds have stormed into the national sporting arena by the dint of their talent and resolve.

While finalising the constitution of All India Football Federation on Friday, a bench of Justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi said, "It is also necessary to ensure that sporting facilities and opportunities are not concentrated in the hands of the urban economic elite, and that the revenues from sporting events, intellectual property and media rights are so distributed to subserve and encourage accessible and affordable sport in our country."

Writing the judgment, Justice Narasimha said the time is ripe to recognise that sporting "facilities and opportunities" are "material resources of the community", and the regulating bodies of different sports as "the institutions of national life".

"As 'places of public resort', sporting institutions and bodies must remain accessible, not just for pursuing sport, but also for its administration. It should be the deeper Sadhana (endeavour) of the State, and it is also our Constitutional duty to ensure sporting facilities and opportunities flourish with institutional efficiency, integrity, professionalism, and expertise," he said.

The bench said SC is the repository of the Constitution and the enforcer of citizen's fundamental rights. However, it said through a judicial fiat it cannot create fraternity, an avowed objective of the Constitution apart from justice (social, economic, political), liberty (of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship), and equality (of status and opportunity). "Unlike rights that can be enforced through law, fraternity is not amenable to judicial command; it must be nurtured through lived experiences of unity, trust, and shared endeavour. National, international, regional or even mohalla sports in India serve as the 'Karmabhumi' where cohesion and collective purpose take tangible form. They bring together individuals from diverse social, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds under a common pursuit, embodying the Constitutional value of fraternity. Here, individual and collective aspirations find a way to coalesce."