Notice ordered to Centre, State on declaring silambam as sport

Justice K Ravichandrabaabu before whom the plea came up for hearing on Tuesday ordered notice to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS), Indian Olympic Association (IOC), Youth Welfare and Sports Development Department and Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, returnable in six weeks.

General Secretary of AISF B Irin had submitted that silambam is a weapon-based martial art originated from Tamil Nadu and finds reference in both Silapathikaram and Sangam literature. Following the efforts taken by AISF, the Association for International Sports for All (TAFISA) granted affiliation to AISF and the School Games Federation of India recognised silambam as one of the disciplines at the national level and conducted national level competitions.

Based on this, a representation with all materials was sent to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the competent authority to grant recognition to various National Sports Federations, on May 8, 2015. As no response had come forth, the Madras High Court was moved.

Following the court direction on February 27, 2018, to the ministry to pass orders on the representation within 12 weeks, the ministry asked AISF to furnish all relevant documents. But when the recognition process was pending, the IOA on June 11, 2018, passed an order that silambam was not a sport under the sports program of Olympic Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth games.

Noting that the order has been passed only with a view to discouraging the ancient sport, the petitioner submitted that having recognised sports like kalaripayatu, wushu, tug of war, tennikoit, it is highly arbitrary and discriminatory ignoring the ancient sport of silambam. He also pointed out that IOC is not the competent authority to pass such an order.