Allahabad HC Asks University To Provide Sports Quota For LLM Course By Referring To India's 'Exceptional' Performance In Olympic

The Bench of Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery was hearing the plea of one Juhi Dubey, a University and State Level Cricketer, who was not granted the benefit of sports quota for admission in LL.M., i.e., the Post Graduate Course on the ground that no such quota exists.

Petitioner's case

Dubey submitted before the Court she was the beneficiary of sports quota in LL.B. Course which she successfully passed in the year 2020, however, since no such quota existed for LL.M course, she couldn't avail of the benefit of this quota.

In response to this, the Counsel for the University submitted that the quota was provided faculty-wise and the entire quota of two seats was for LL.B. Course, therefore, no quota was available for LL.M. Course.

However, it was not disputed that an appropriate decision can be taken at the university level regarding sports quota in LL.M. Course also.

Court's observations

At the outset, the Court noted that the people of India are happy and welcoming the sportspersons who have participated and come victorious from Olympic-2020.

"The exceptional performance of Indian Squad in Olympic-2020 is the best in the last four decades and India finishes at Serial No. 48 in the world ranking and at Serial No. 33 in terms of overall medals. Out of seven medalists of India (One Gold, Two Silver and Four Bronze), three are women (Mirabai Chanu-Silver in Weightlifting; P.V. Sindhu-Bronze in Badminton; and, Lovlina Borgohain-Bronze in Boxing)," observed the Court.

Since the Court was dealing with the case of the petitioner, a state-level cricketer, therefore, the Court further noted that there are twelve Arjun Awardees in Women Cricket Team of India, the latest being, Deepti Bhagwan Sharma in the year 2020. Mithali Raj, is nominated by BCCI for Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award.

The court also observed that the performance of Indian Women Cricket Team remained unexceptional and that the Team was runner up in the World T-20 in the year 2020 and in One Day World Cup-2017 also, it remained runner up.

The Court also took note of the Union of India's Khelo India Program by observing that the motive of the program is to revive the sports culture in India at the grass-root level by building a strong framework for sports played in the country and to establish India as a great sporting nation.

In this backdrop, the Court observed thus:

"It is expected from University that such bright sports persons should be given the benefit of sports quota even in Post Graduate Course of LL.M. also. State, as well as Union Governments, are also helping the upcoming sportspersons and we hope that even in upcoming international sports events including Cricket, our country will get more medals, awards, and trophies."

Lastly, the writ petition was disposed of with a direction to Registrar, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur that in order to provide more support to such sports persons and in the interest of sports persons, sports quota be provided for LL.M. Course.

Case title - Juhi Dubey v. State Of U.P. And 3 Others

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