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Arjuna Awards: HC declines sprinter Manjit Singh's plea to stay ceremony over his non-inclusion in list

The high court issued notices and sought the response of the Sports Authority of India and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to the petition.

Arjuna Awards: HC declines to stay ceremony over non-inclusion of gold medallist sprinter Manjit Singh in list

New Delhi, Nov 29: One day before the National Sports Awards ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan, champion sprinter Manjit Singh's appeal to stay the Arjuna Awards was turned down by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday (November 29). The athlete, who won the 800-metre gold medal at Asian Games in 2018, had moved court over his non-inclusion in the list of Arjuna Awardees.

"I am not going to stop the award function which is to take place tomorrow," Justice Prathiba M Singh said while hearing a plea by the athlete. In his petition, Singh sought direction for the authorities to consider conferring on him the 'Arjuna Award for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games (2022)' being a gold medallist at the 18th Asian Games held in Jakarta.

The high court issued notices and sought the response of the Sports Authority of India and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to the petition. While passing the order, the judge said, "The award function cannot be interdicted at this stage" and, if after filing of the replies by the authorities, the court is of the opinion that the petitioner's case needs to be considered, it will see if relaxation is required in the scheme.

Central government's standing counsel Anil Soni submitted the announcement for the awards was made on November 14 and the ceremony is fixed for Wednesday (November 30). He said the petitioner has named the other athlete, who is to be conferred the award, in the petition but has not made him a party to the matter.

delhi high court

The plea claimed that the non-inclusion of his name in the awardee list is "unfair, unreasonable" and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution relating to equality before the law. It said in terms of the scheme for the Arjuna Award, Singh commands 30 points as per the points system and he has been excluded from the awardee list while the sportsperson having 25 points has been included.

It said India had won 5 gold medals at the Asian Games in 2018 and all the other individual sportspersons except for the petitioner have already been conferred the Award.

"Petitioner has been continuously nominated for the past 4 years and has not been considered for the Arjuna Award till date despite being meritorious. This is the last chance when the petitioner can be considered and after that he shall not remain eligible for Arjuna Award," the plea submitted.

Senior Table Tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal will be conferred with the prestigious Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna award at the august gathering.

(With PTI inputs)

Story first published: Tuesday, November 29, 2022, 20:23 [IST]
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