Court scraps sports quota in medical and engineering this year

The Hyderabad High court passed on a verdict on Friday, July 6, instructing the Telangana government and all Medical, Engineering, and other professional colleges in the state to scrap the sports quota for the current academic year. The verdict comes as a result of various new sports gaining popularity in India and de-facto being included under the sports quota. Sports Quota is a special privilege given to any person who has done well in sports. This allows them to take admission in any college at a cut-off lower than that for the general public. The bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Kongara Vijaya Lakshmi resided over the matter and in the end, came to the decision to remove the sports quota altogether. The reason given by the bench was the emergence of many unheard of sports such as Sepak Takraw and Lawn Bowls. The bench stated that due to lack of competition in these sports, the few people engaged will go on to become champions easily and hence get a simple route to any college which allowed for sports quota. The justices argued that it is better to remove the sports quota altogether than to let few people take advantage of this situation. The bench was acting upon a petition filed by five people from Hyderabad who challenged the state's Government Order issued to the general public by the department of sports. Moreover, the Hyderabad High Court went on to critique the Telangana Sports Authority, the sportspersons taking advantage of this loophole, and their parents as well. Firstly, the bench reprimanded the Telangana Sports Authority for allowing the matter of sports quota get out of their hands and not taking any constructive actions. Their critique was in direct relation to a serious situation in which various students were issuing fake sports certificates to get admissions via the quota. As it stands, the sports quota in the state is 2% and students were engaging themselves in illegal practices to take advantage of the situation. The bench also reprimanded any sportspersons and their parents, looking to get admissions via the sports quota, even arguing against the whole concept of a quota. “If you want sportsmen to flourish, then give them jobs and ensure they keep on playing. By giving them medical seats, you are killing their skills in the sport and you are not doing any good to the field of medicine either,” stated the bench, "When the sole aim of training children in some sports activity is to have them gain admission in a medical college, the same can never provide excellence either in sports or in medicine." Without a doubt, the issuance of this official order by Hyderabad HC will invite opposition from all directions. In order to hear any complaints or different viewpoints, the bench has given a time of six weeks.