The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday directed the Union Sports Ministry to stick to its own rules in giving out sports awards.
A Division Bench of Justices Devi Prasad Singh and Ashok Pal Singh passed the order on a writ petition filed by Lucknow based social activist Nutan Thakur and IPS Amitabh Thakur. The Court disposed off the writ saying that the Ministry was bound by its own rules framed for Sports awards and cannot violate it.
The writ petition had challenged the recommendation of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for cricketer Virat Kohli for the Arjuna Award and former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for the Dhyan Chand Award.
The petitioners’ counsel Asok Pande had argued that only the National Sports Federation (NSF) could make recommendations for the national sports awards. BCCI is not one of the 51 NSFs recognized by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs, but is an unrecognized private body which cannot make such recommendations, the petitioners said.
