The Karnataka High Court recently directed the State government to pay ₹10 lakh as compensation to Sanjana Raghunath, an international chess player, after she was denied an MBBS seat in a government medical college under the sports quota despite being eligible.
In a judgement passed on October 1, a bench of Chief Justice NV Anjaria and Justice KV Aravind held that in denying Raghunath a seat under the sports quota and forcing her to take admission in a private seat, the State had acted in an arbitrary manner.
The Court held that the State had caused much suffering to Raghunath and was thus, liable to compensate her for the same.
“Due to the reasons recorded by the Court as above, the categorization of the petitioner as P-V is on the face of it illegal. The respondent authorities have committed serious errors either due to non-application of mind or the arbitrary exercise of the power. This action of the respondent authorities has deprived the petitioner's aspiration to pursue MBBS Course under Government seat reserved as sports quota. 41. The Court has noted that the petitioner is pursuing MBBS Course in a private seat. Due to the arbitrary action of the respondent-authorities, the ambition of the parents and the student in pursuing sport activity to claim incentive of preference for admission is totally scattered,” the High Court said.
Raghunath, who had participated and won several competitions including the Asian Youth Championship and the Commonwealth Chess Championship of 2018, approached the Court challenging a circular issued by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) in June 2023 which mandated that for an applicant to be eligible under the sports quota, they should have participated and won in certain sport events between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2023.
Any performance and accolades secured before or after such period was irrelevant to the admissions for the academic year that began in 2024, the circular said.
The Asian Youth Championship in which Raghunath had participated and won was held in April 2018 and not within the time frame mentioned in its circular, the counsel for KEA told the Court.
While Raghunath appeared for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test last year and scored a good rank, her application seeking admission in government seats in medical colleges against the quota reserved for sports was rejected by the KEA.
Raghunath was forced to take a private seat and had to pay over ₹11 lakh as fees for the same, the court noted.
The High Court however, held that the June circular and placing Raghunath under the private seat category was “on the face of it illegal.”
“The respondent authorities have committed serious errors either due to non-application of mind or the arbitrary exercise of the power. This action of the respondent authorities has deprived the petitioner's aspiration to pursue MBBS Course under Government seat reserved as sports quota. The Court is bound to recognize the volume of time and money spent on pursuing the sport, apart from sacrificing academic training. Another aspect to be noticed and recognized is the moment of pride for the nation that was brought about by winning the certificate,” the High Court said.
However, it also noted that the sports quota seats in the State medical colleges for the current academic year had already been filled and it will not be wise to disturb the admissions already finalised.
Accordingly, the High Court directed the State to award monetary compensation of ₹10 lakh to Raghunath.
“Once the Court holds that the action of the respondent-State has resulted in suffering to the petitioner, applying the test of time constraints, the petitioner cannot be denied of redressal of sufferings. Once the remedy of admission under the sports quota is not viable, the other method to remedy the grievance is with adequate compensation,” the Court said while directing the State to pay her the compensation within the next six weeks.
Advocate Srikanth MP appeared for Raghunath.
Advocates NK Ramesh, N Khetty and MN Sudev Hegde appeared for the respondent KEA and State authorities.
[Read Judgment]