New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Paralympic
Committee of India to recommend Naresh Kumar Sharma's name as an additional
participant in the 50m Para Shooter category for the Tokyo Paralympics, which
is scheduled to begin on August 24.
The court has asked for a
compliance report by tomorrow.
Mr Sharma had moved the top
court challenging a Delhi High Court order that said his plea (related to his
non-selection) would be heard on Friday - four days after the deadline for
entries.
A five-time Paralympics
shooter and an Arjuna Award winner - he had claimed his non-selection in favour
of another athlete - Deepak - was “arbitrary, discriminatory and capricious”.
“The petitioner humbly seeks
intervention of this court in the present matter as the legitimate opportunity
of the petitioner to participate in Tokyo Paralympics in R7 event, and
consequently bring laurels to the country, will be lost if the arbitrary, discriminatory
and capricious selection... by the selection committee of PCI (Paralympics
Committee of India is allowed,” his petition had said.
“If matter is heard on August
6, it would make the plea infructuous,” Mr Sharma told the top court.
In a statement issued after
the court's order, the committee said its selection had been “fair and
judicious” and that each athlete's performance had been “keenly monitored and
recorded”.
The PCI further said Mr
Sharma's name had been rejected by the International Paralympic Committee, and
that it was unable to present its argument in court because the athlete had “mentioned
the matter in front of the Supreme Court without any intimation to the PCI”.
“All selection criteria are
already on the website and have been followed to the letter and spirit. We have
high regards for Mr Naresh Kumar, who has been our shooter for many years...
but this time he has failed the selection criteria,” the PCI said.
“All selected shooters have
qualified with much better scores... Mr Naresh Kumar has failed to win any
quota for the country in the last four years
“Selection criteria is at the
discretion of the International Paralympic Committee and PCI has no active
role, apart from conducting selection as per the guidelines,” the statement said.
The PCI, however, also said
it would follow the Supreme Court's direction and would “once again recommend
Mr Naresh Kumar's name for selection”.
Mr Sharma had alleged that
the PCI selection committee adopted wrong criteria - which he said were “contrary
to the norms of the National Sports Development Code” - for selection of
athletes.
Mr Sharma pointed out that in
order to participate in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, a para shooter must have
participated in at least two events approved by World Shooting Para Sports.
However, Deepak (who was
selected in his place) has participated in only one such event, Mr Sharma
claimed, adding that the committee had added points for participating in the
Serbia Grand Prix, which is not approved by World Shooting Para Sports.
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