Five time Paralympian Naresh Kumar Sharma has challenged the order of Hon’ble Justice Rekha Palli before the Division Bench through his Advocates Satyam Singh Rajput and Amit Kumar Sharma against his arbitrarily non-selection in Tokyo Paralympic Games 2020 by the Paralympic.
Advocates Satyam Singh Rajput and Amit Kumar Sharma further stated in the petition that “the PCI has been Suspended by International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Govt. Of India on Several occasions for undermining growth of Paralympic Movement in India, gross negligence of athletes, poor management of Para Athletic Championships, mis governance, violation of National Sports Development Code of India, 2011, unauthorized amendment of bylaws and illegal removal of its own elected President.
That PCI has been derecognized by the ministry of youth affairs and sports Government of India vide letter dated 28th March,2011. That in April 2015, the PCI was suspended by the International Paralympic Committee, which claimed the PCI was undermining the development of the Paralympic Movement of India. The suspension was overturned to allow Indian Para-athletes to compete at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio under their national flag. In a letter dated April 15, 2015 the IPC said, “the situation in the PCI has been chaotic for several years now, which is mostly due to individual conflicts at the national level between different groups and persons.”
IPC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Xavier Gonzalez on April 15, 2015wrote,"The IPC has for all this time always tried to help and support its official member. Unfortunately, to this day, it seems that a lot of unresolved conflicts are still undermining the development of the Paralympic movement in India and this situation does not bring any positive outcome for the athletes." Following in the footsteps of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the sports ministry also suspended the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) in 2015 for gross negligence of athletes and poor management of the 15th National Para Athletics Championships in Ghaziabad on March 20-22. The decision had been taken in the wake of numerous serious complaints about poor management/conduct of the 15th National Para Athletics Championships held from March 20-22, 2015 in Ghaziabad in all aspects viz., logistics, technical, administrative.
In 2019 The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports derecognized the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) for violating the National Sports Development Code of India, 2011.The government has suspended PCI in accordance with provisions under clause I (ix) and (x) of Annexure-III of National Sports Development Code of India 2011.The ministry has cited district's registrar's order, saying amendment of bylaws is seen as a violation of the Karnataka Societies Registration Act 1960 and 1961. The ministry has cited district's registrar's order, saying amendment of bylaws is seen as a violation of the Karnataka Societies Registration Act 1960 and 1961”
Adv. Satyam Singh Rajput and Amit Kumar Sharma took the following grounds in the petition :
A. For that, the Ld. Single Judge noted that it is an undisputed position that the Detailed Selection Criteria uploaded by the PCI on its website had set out eight events whose scores could be used to calculate the final average score (FAS) of an athlete aspiring to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. The Ld. Single Judge further noted that it is also a matter of record that the Novi Sad Grand Prix was not one of the qualifying events listed either by the PCI or the IPC. Despite noting these material facts, the Ld. Single Judge held that the decision of PCI to accept the Novi Sad Grand Prix scores of respondent no.4 to calculate his average Score, cannot be found fault with.
B. For that, the Ld. Single Judge had erred in not considering the facts in proper perspective and holding that due to onset of COVID-19 pandemic barring a few competitions, there was a very limited scope for a para-shooters to accumulate the requisite points for his Final Average Score (FAS) in time to be considered for 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. As per the eligibility criteria issued by the IPC a para shooter had to achieve two Minimum Qualifying Scores (MQS) in the same medal event between 1 January 2018 and 15 July 2021. Therefore, there was no dearth of time and opportunities. During the onset of COVID-19, events like Lima 2021 World Shooting Para Sports World Cup, Al Ain 2021 World Shooting Para Sports World Cup, 3 National Trials, 1st National Para-Shooting Championship were held. Mr. Deepak had the opportunity to participate in Al Ain 2021 World Shooting Para Sports World Cup, but he failed to do so.