Renjith Maheshwary Moves Kerala High Court Assailing Centre's Decision To Withhold His Arjuna Award Based On 2008 Doping Charges

Renjith Maheshwary, the Olympian national record holder in triple jump has moved the Kerala High Court challenging a press release issued by the Secretary, Department of Sports withholding the Arjuna Award previously conferred to him.

Justice N. Nagaresh on Monday admitted the plea and issued notice to the respondents.

The main allegation raised by the petitioner is that after being informed he will be conferred with the Arjuna Award for Athletics, 2013 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, just before the award ceremony, he was informed orally by the Secretary to the Sports Department to withdraw from the ceremony.

Thereafter, the Department issued another press release mentioning that the award has been kept in abeyance pending investigation about an alleged suspension and ban in 2008 doping charges during the 46th National Open Championship held at Kochi.

The plea filed through Advocates R. Asalatha Varma, Arjun Varma and Yedu Krishnan stated that the petitioner was never informed about the said doping charges during 2008-2009 or about the punishments. It was argued that he had not been visited with any kind of disciplinary action in his athletic career.

"Apart from Exhibit-P4 press release, there was no official communication either to the petitioner or to his parental institution regarding the alleged suspension and or restrictions from the national game as alleged in Exhibit-P4."

In fact, during the alleged period of suspension and ban, the petitioner says he was undergoing training with the Director-General of Sports Authority and that the Centre was meeting his expenses.

The plea says that thereafter from April 2009, he had joined the national camp under the aegis of the Athletic Federation of India (AFI) to participate in the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, implying that there was no ban imposed on him.

Another interesting argument put forward by the petitioner is that contrary to the information issued on the press release, the 46th National Athletic Championship was held not in Kochi, but in New Delhi. It was the 48th National Championship that was held at Kochi.

He had returned from Beijing Olympics a few days before the 48th National Championship and won a gold medal for triple jump.

His performance was recorded as 15.35 meters which were far below his usual performance during the relevant period. The result is still available on the website indianathletics.in.

Due to the variations in climate and long hours of travel from Beijing, he had developed a throat infection and cough. Accordingly, he consulted a Government Doctor at Chennai and reported the same to the authorities as seen reported in Mathrubhumi daily on 08.10.2008.

He argued that contrary to what is stated in the press release, there was no communication to him or to his knowledge, his parent institution, the Indian railway regarding the presence of a specified substance in the sample collected from the petitioner during the said event from Kochi.

It is submitted that during that period petitioner was informed by his doctor attached to AFI that Ephedrine had been detected in the sample and the petitioner submitted the medical certificates issued by the Government doctor at Chennai.

Another contention raised by Maheshwary is that in 2008, the Director of the National Dope Testing Laboratory who conducted the analysis of the sample was not having the accreditation of the World Antidumping Agency and that there was no standard operating procedure during that time.

When the Laboratory received accreditation in 2009, a list of sportspersons found to have used prohibited drugs was published. But Maheshwary's name was not on the list.

The persons whose names were there in the published list of dope tainted sports persons were bestowed with Arjuna Award in 2005 and 2021. Aggrieved by this, the petitioner had requested records pertaining to the dope allegations through the Right Information Act but his efforts went in vain. 

It was also mentioned in the Press Release that a letter of communication was sent to him stating that he had been disqualified from the tournament and was put to ban for 3 months. However, the petitioner denied these statements. He argued that even taking the said statement at face value, it is highly superficial to say the information about the ban was only communicated to him after the ban period was over.  

"It is with utmost pain and grief that the petitioner and his wife are subjected to continuous taunting from various statures of the society about the fake and arbitrary doping charges of the year 2008, which was inculpated upon the petitioner in 2013 by Exhibit-P4 press release. It was to the startle of the petitioner that such a charge arouse out of nothing," the plea reads. 

Under the above circumstances, the records leading to press release is liable to be quashed, it is argued.

Accordingly, the petitioner has prayed that the Court direct the Secretary to revoke the decision to cancel the Arjuna Award that was originally conferred upon him.

The plea has also sought a directive to the respondents to produce the list of sportspersons who had been violated doping rules and against whom action was taken by them during the period 01.01.2003 to 31.12.2008 in a sealed cover before the Court, pending disposal of the petition.

The three-time Olympian had applied for the Arjuna award recently in September 2021 as well after a recent modification making those who have completed their bans for doping eligible for the award. However, this was not considered either. 

Case Title: Renjith Maheshwary v. Union of India & Ors.