A tribunal too much: India’s missed chance for sports arbitration?

India is in the middle of reshaping its sports justice system. The National Sports Governance Act, 2025 establishes a National Sports Tribunal (NST), while amendments to the National Anti-Doping Act, 2022 introduce a new Board for Anti-Doping in Sports.

Together, these reforms aim to strengthen independence, transparency and efficiency in sports dispute resolution. Yet, their design choices reveal a surprising departure from international best practices.

Globally, arbitration is the tried, tested and trusted model for sports disputes. Institutions like the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, as well as bodies such as the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) and Australia’s National Sports Tribunal (NST), resolve disputes quickly and with finality.

They focus on disciplinary matters, selection controversies, governance disputes, eligibility issues and above all, doping cases, because such disputes demand urgency and directly affect athletes’ careers. Commercial matters are generally excluded, as they do not carry the same time sensitivity.

India’s new framework, however, places primary reliance on a tribunal structure rather than arbitration. The NST resembles a quasi-judicial body, with decisions appealable up to the Supreme Court. While this ensures accountability, it also introduces the risk of delay, precisely what arbitration is designed to avoid. More significantly, doping cases, among the most urgent disputes in sport, fall outside the NST’s remit. Unlike several international jurisdictions, where doping disputes are handled within national sports arbitration bodies or tribunals, India has taken a notably different approach.

A separate Disciplinary Panel, specifically related to anti-doping matters, has been established under the new amendments. It can be, however, undoubtedly said that the specialised panel aims to ensure focused expertise and independence and has also brought the much-needed segregation of investigation and adjudication. Prior to this amendment, NADA was responsible for testing, investigation, adjudication and sanctioning of athletes. However, it remains constituted and controlled by the Central government, rather than being fully autonomous or integrated into the National Sports Tribunal framework.

This division raises questions about procedural consistency, institutional coherence and potential governmental influence, diverging from best international practices where doping cases are handled within consolidated, independent arbitration forums.

The broader point is that India has not embraced arbitration in the very areas where it is most effective. Around the world, arbitration has proven to be the gold standard for handling urgent, high-stakes disputes, such as doping violations and eligibility challenges. By excluding arbitration and instead creating tribunal-based processes, India risks slower resolution and diminished athlete confidence. That said, the reforms do reflect a growing recognition that sports justice requires dedicated forums, separate from overburdened courts and self-regulating federations.

The establishment of the NST and the restructuring of anti-doping adjudication are important steps. The challenge now is ensuring that these new bodies function with speed, expertise, and independence, so that India’s athletes can compete knowing their disputes will be resolved fairly and without delay.

If India aspires to match global sporting standards, it must also align its dispute resolution framework with global best practices. The new reforms take us closer to independence but stop short of embracing the very model that the sporting world has relied upon for decades. If India is serious about becoming a global sporting power, it must match medals with mechanisms, and that means putting arbitration, not bureaucracy, at the heart of sports justice.

About the authors: Professor (Dr) Ruhi Paul is the UNESCO Chairholder on Legal Dimensions of Clean Sport at the National Law University Delhi.

Udiksha Rana is a research scholar and team member, UNESCO Chair on Legal Dimensions of Clean Sport at the National Law University Delhi.

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