Madras High court declines to stay Special Olympics International Football Championship, allows three excluded children to take part

The Madras High Court on Friday declined to stay the Special Olympics International Football Championship beginning on Saturday as it directed the Centre to allow three differently-abled children to take part in the event. [caption id=“attachment_7101901” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The interim order was passed by a bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan on a petition by the mother of a differently-abled athlete alleging favouritism in the selection process by Special Olympics Bharat-Tamil Nadu officials. She also sought directions to the Union Sports Ministry to frame binding rules, regulations and guidelines for the same. The bench in its order said since it was an international tournament and commencing on Saturday, the court was not inclined to stop or postpone the entire event for the time being as sought by the petitioner in her interim prayer. However, since the three differently-abled children have lost their chance to participate due to the opaque selection process as alleged in the petition, it was directing that they be allowed to compete in the event. It directed the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Chief Executive Officer of Special Olympics Bharat to allow Dinesh Kumar, Prem Shankar and Kevin George, whose names were cited as an example by the petitioner’s counsel during arguments, to participate in the championship. It also asked the state commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Area Director Special Olympics Bharat-Tamil Nadu J Paul Devasagayam and M S Johan Nagarajan, Senior Sports Manager, Special Olympics Asia Pacific, Chennai to be present in the court on Monday, and adjourned the matter. Taking a serious view of the absence of Devasagayam and Nagarajan during Friday’s hearing, the bench ordered them to deposit Rs 25,000 each from their personal funds with the court registrar for failure to appear or arrange for their advocates to represent them despite being aware of the urgency of the matter. According to the petitioner, except the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, there was no other mechanism for transparent selection and participation of special children in sporting events. The Centre had in April 2006 placed the Special Olympics Bharat under ‘priority’ category for availing central assistance under various schemes in terms of its policy and criteria of dynamic categorisation. The petitioner alleged Devasagayam and Nagarajan indulged in misappropriation of funds and showed discrimination in the selection of children. “They select and train the athlete candidates whose parents pay or for undue favouritism, whereby special sort of preference of selection is given to their wards while leaving deserving candidates in dark,” she alleged. Stating that India had been chosen as the venue for this year’s international football championship, the petitioner said the participants ought to have been qualified and selected in a clean and transparent manner, but till the last week, there was no announcement on the selection process.