BREAKING : Supreme Court Directs To Recommend Shooter Naresh Kumar Sharma As Additional Participant In Tokyo Paralympics

In a huge relief to 5-time Paralympian shooter and Arjuna Award winner Naresh Kumar Sharma, the Supreme Court on Monday directed the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) to recommend his name as an additional participant in the 50 meter parashooter event in the Tokyo Paralympics, which is starting from August 24.

Today is the last date for recommending the names for the Paralmypics events. The PCI has been directed to report compliance of the order by tomorrow.

Naresh Kumar Sharma had approached the Court aggrieved by the "arbitrary and biased" decision of the PCI in not selecting him for the Tokyo event.

A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari passed the direction today afternoon hearing an urgent petition filed by Sharma. He had earlier approached the Delhi High Court challenging his exclusion from the international event meant for physically challenged participants. Although the High Court observed that there was arbitrariness in the Committee's decision, it did not pass immediate orders for his inclusion in the list.

In that background, he approached the Supreme Court. Senior Advocate Vikas Singh made a mention of the matter before the Chief Justice of India today morning for urgent consideration today itself, saying that the matter will become infructous otherwise.

Accordingly,  a special bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, BR Gavai and Krishna Murari  heard the matter at 2 PM. The bench recorded in the order that there was no representation for the PCI, although Singh's junior lawyer had informed them about the proceedings.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, appearing for the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, told the bench that the Union Government has no say in the matter as the recommendation is to be made by the PCI. The ASG also said that the Union is ready to abide by any directions passed by the Court.

The bench passed the direction taking note of the fact that the High Court has found the PCI's decision to exclude Sharma to be erroneous. The Supreme Court observed that the petitioner ought to have succeeded before the High Court, in the light of the findings made by it, and appropriate directions ought to have been issued to the PCI to include him as a participant for the event.

Sharma had preferred an appeal before a Division bench of the Delhi High Court from a Single Judge order, refusing to interfere with the decision of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), the apex body for promotion and development of Para Sports in India, to not shortlist him for the Tokyo Games 2020.

He stated that though the Single judge had come to a finding that there was bias and favoritism in PCI's conduct and an investigation was ordered, no relief was granted to him. He stated that notice was issued on his appeal which is slated to be heard on August 6, by when the matter will become infructuous as today is the last day for acceptance of applications by the International Paralympics Committee.

Sharma had contended that the Selection Committee of PCI wrongly applied the eligibility criteria specified under the National Sports Development Code of India 2011, while shortlisting the candidates. He had complained that the Committee wrongly selected one Deepak to participate in Tokyo Paralympic in R7 event, in his place.

It is his case that to be eligible for participating in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, a para shooter must have participated in at least two international competitions approved by the WSPS (World Shooting Para Sports). Singh pointed out that the said Deepak had merely participated in one such event and the Committee has wrongly considered Serbia Grand Prix for calculating his marks, even though the said event is not a part of the recognized WSPS competition in terms of Rule 1.2 and 2.9.

Before the High Court, PCI had contended that its endeavor was to select the best candidates for the games and that Deepak was found to be the one with the highest score in the relevant category. It was also informed to the Court that the Serbia Grand Prix was one of the World Shooting Para Sports (WSPS) events in which Sharma voluntarily chose not to participate.

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