It’s high time there is rethink on sports quota:HC

Hyderabad, Aug 18 (PTI) The Hyderabad High Court hasobserved that it is high time there is a rethink on sportsquota as they have no constitutional basis and said sports andprofessional education take a beating as a result of thisreservation. The bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and Anis, inits order on August 8, also noted that in an earlier case, thehigh court had clearly spelt out that reservations for personsexcelling in sports, NCC, are not based upon anyconstitutional guarantee and such reservations, in reality,appear to be inventions made for the purpose of diluting theconstitutionally guarantees granted to BCs, SCs and STs. The bench said this while dismissing a writ petitionfiled by a student, who was refused allotment of a medicalseat under sports category by Andhra Pradesh government andNTR University of Health Sciences. The petitioner, who appeared for Andhra PradeshEAMCET-2016, had sought to declare the action of therespondents in not considering the persons who excel in gamessuch as tennikoit, power lifting, netball, throwball,sepak takraw and boxing etc, as illegal and arbitrary and forconsequential directions. "It is sad to note that except video games, all othergames that one could conceive of, have been brought within thesports quota, to enable persons, who cannot excel in academicstudies, to gain admission to under-graduate medical coursesthrough the back door," the bench said. "The result is that the field of sports as well asfield of professional education take a beating. Ultimately,persons who gain admission to medical courses, lose theirflavour for sports if they really had some," it observed. The persons who have interest in academics are keptout by less meritorious, due to such quotas not borne out ofthe constitutional scheme, it said. Therefore, it is high time that there is rethinking onsuch quotas, which have no constitutional basis, the benchsaid, adding the reservation for such quotas neither helps thestudents to become great sports persons in life nor to becomegreat professionals in other fields.PTI GDK/VVK GK GSNGSN