CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday refused to restrain the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in New Delhi and others from holding a five-day Special Olympics International Football Championship, scheduled to begin on Saturday at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here.
The judges were passing interim orders on a PIL petition from C K Manoranjani of Choolaimedu who claimed that the participants were not selected in a transparent manner. "Since it is an international event, starting tomorrow, we are not inclined to stop or postpone it for the time being," a division bench
of Justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan observed. The bench, however, directed the organisers
to permit three persons -- Dinesh Kumar, Prem Shankar and Kevin George -- to participate in the event.
The bench also directed Dr J Paul Devasagayam, area director, and Dr M S John Nagarajan, senior sports manager of Special Olympics Bharat, to deposit Rs 25,000 each from their personal funds to the
Registrar-General of the High Court before the next date of hearing, subject to the final orders of the court, and posted the matter to August 5 for further hearing.
The petitioner had prayed for a direction to the Union Sports Ministry and the chief executive officer of the Special Olympics Bharat in New Delhi to frame rules, regulations and guidelines for selection and training of the intellectually disabled for each category of sports and their participation in events and make them available on their official website and in newspapers.
According to the petitioner, who is the mother of a differently-abled child Vinayak, except the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 and Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, there is no mechanism for the selection and participation of special children in sporting events by giving a free, fair and equal level-playing in the field of sports competitions. The Special Olympics Bharat (SOB) was launched and the Union Ministry in April 2006 had categorised it under 'priority' category for availing central assistance under various schemes in terms of its policy and criteria of dynamic categorisation.
After India was chosen as the venue for the international football championship at the Nehru Stadium here, there was no official announcement till the last week of July inviting parents of the intellectually disabled to participate in the selection process, said the petitioner.
On the other hand, the authorities are continuing to select and train candidates whose parents pay them or through undue favouritism, whereby special preference was given to wards of some parents, leaving other deserving candidates in the lurch, she said. The petitioner said she came to know all this only at the eleventh hour. The committee has acted in a surreptitious manner and misdirected the petitioner and others from exercising their legitimate and legal rights, the petitioner contended.