Madras HC says no to karate for sports quota in jobs

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court refused to include karate in the list of sports to avail special reservation in employment, citing it is the policy decision of the government and the court cannot decide on the matter.

The first division bench of Chief Justice KR Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy held that since the matter is under the scope of the Union government’s policy decision, the court cannot wield its power conferred under Article 226 of the Constitution to include karate into the pool of sports to avail 10 per cent special reservation and dismissed a petition seeking to enlist karate as a recognised sport.

The petition moved by S Arun Prabhakaran from Avadi claimed that the Union government did not attempt to take karate to the Olympic platform; karate practitioners are struggling for recognition. Though a historic sport, it is not recognised by the Union government for reservation, he argued.

The petitioner submitted that despite being a disciple of karate for the past 20 years, a gold medalist, national certified coach and international champion, he couldn’t secure a government job.

He even gave the exams for sub-inspector in the Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board, but no reservation was extended to him. If karate was recognised by the State, he could have secured the job under sports reservation, he contended.

Not enlisting it in a recognised pool is discrimination against the sport, which is illegal and not justifiable, he noted.

It is further stated that the sport ‘silambam’ was recently added to the list, following requests and representations made by sports personalities.

But the struggle to get karate the same recognition was initiated by its patrons decades ago and has still not yielded results, he added.