The Andhra Pradesh High Court has found that renowned archery player Vennam Jyoti Surekha was ignored in the selection of the Khel Ratna Award despite winning more medals at the international level. It concluded that Surekha had more points than those selected for the award.
It has directed the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and also the selection committee to consider the issue of giving the highest sports award, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award to Jyoti Surekha.
It has stated that Jyoti Surekha’s name should be considered along with the players who have already been selected for the Khel Ratna Award for the years 2023 and 2024. It has clarified that no fresh application should be sought from the petitioner in this regard. It is of the opinion that it is not right to cancel the selections for the Khel Ratna Award in 2023 at this stage in the context of the end of 2024.
It has directed the Secretary of the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs to formulate guidelines for selecting talented players for the Khel Ratna Award. It has been clarified that the guidelines and rules should be adhered to without leaving any discretion to the selection committee and without leaving any ambiguity.
High Court Judge Justice Nimmagadda Venkateswarlu recently ruled to this effect. International archery player Jyoti Surekha from Andhra Pradesh had filed a case in the High Court in January last year challenging the non-consideration of her name for the Khel Ratna award.
After hearing the arguments from both sides, the judge concluded that Jyoti Surekha had the highest points (148.74) among all the applicants for the Khel Ratna award. Surekha scored more points than Satwik Sairaj and Chirag Chandrasekhar Shetty (58.5 points), who were selected for the award. The reasons for not giving her the award were not stated.
The petitioner did not try to castigate the selection committee by attributing ulterior motives. It is only said that the award selection process is against the National Sports Code. In this context, the lawsuit is worthy of hearing. The selection committee acted contrary to the promise made while inviting applications for the award selection.
It is against the selection process for the selection committee to select only those from a sport for the Khel Ratna Award at its discretion. There are cases where medals have been given to more than one person in a sport in a year. The judge clarified in his judgment that it is the responsibility of the Central Sports Ministry to consider the name of Jyoti Surekha along with the athletes selected for the 2023 Khel Ratna Award.