Kerala Sports Bill would merge the Sports Council into a new Sports Authority of Kerala

23 October 2026

The Kerala Sports Bill, 2026 proposes to merge the Directorate of Sports with the Kerala Sports Council to create a Sports Authority of Kerala. The Sports Minister would chair the authority, the department secretary would be vice-chairperson and the Director of Sports would be its chief executive officer, with no political representatives at its helm and no elections to its governing body. The bill provides fines ranging from five lakh rupees to twenty-five lakh rupees for irregularities in sports quota recruitment and for violations of sportspersons' rights, along with compensation for affected sportspersons. District-level sports councils would cease to exist. The draft was returned by the Law Department after vetting and had not been placed before the Cabinet as of 23 October 2026.