CHENNAI: Since December 24, 2023 when the sports ministry suspended the newly-elected executive council of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), certificates issued by the federation have not been considered for recruitment purposes by the Indian Railways, one of the biggest employers of the athletes in the country.
Reiterating its policy, the Railways on January 10, 2025 issued a circular to general managers of all zonal railways and production and other units regarding the validity of certificates issued by the WFI.
Citing the sports ministry's order, the circular once again made it clear that WFI's certificates will not be considered for recruitment and other establishment purposes.
"Since neither any instruction has been received from Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYA&S) nor available on the official website of MoYAS till date regarding revocation of the suspension of EC of WFI or regarding recognition of championships conducted by the suspended EC of WFI till date, the certificates issued for the events conducted by WFI after 24-12-23 are not to be considered for recruitment and other establishment purposes as per the MoYA&S's instructed dated 7-1-24 and 30-1-24," read the circular.
The circular, however, says that certificates of 2023 senior national championships organised in Jaipur from February 2 to 5 last year under the supervision of the IOA-appointed ad-hoc committee and hosted by the Railways will be treated as recognised and sanctioned.
Interestingly, the Railways has announced vacancies in sports quota for the year 2024-25 for 21 posts in group C and 43 posts in group D in August 2024. Given the situation, the Railways didn't find several wrestlers eligible as they submitted certificates from tournaments organised by the WFI. Diwakar Rathore, father of wrestler Unnati (59kg), confirmed his daughter's candidature was rejected. "She competed at the Pune nationals organised by the WFI. No specific reason was given for rejection. Unnati is now hired by Income Tax," Diwakar told this daily.
Railway Recruitment Cell - Western Railway has declared an eligibility list against these vacancies and the same is in possession of this daily. It has shortlisted candidates in three categories - eligible, provisionally eligible and not eligible. Most of those who found themselves in the last category had submitted certificates from tournaments organised by the WFI.
"A few wrestlers who went for verification in Mumbai after filling up the forms online were asked to remove the Pune nationals certificates saying they were not recognised," one of the Greco-Roman wrestlers, whose application was rejected, told this daily on the condition of anonymity.
A Railways' coach held it unfortunate, saying the selective treatment is causing severe damage to the professional career of the budding wrestlers. "The Railways allowed its wrestlers, referees and coaches to accompany various teams sent by the WFI for international events including the Paris Olympics. But now it is not considering certificates from WFI's tournaments valid. This selective treatment is harming upcoming wrestlers who need job security to continue wrestling," the coach told this daily.
Interestingly, the Indian Army also invited applications for direct recruitment of havildar and naib subedar from 22 disciplines but didn't specify validity and invalidity of any tournaments. It only specified the period, in this case between April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2024, during which the athletes should have competed in the international events, junior and senior nationals, Khelo India Games and Youth Games.