‘Athlete of worth’ but no seat: Why Calcutta High Court refused to relax rules for national-level swimmer

Recognising that the petitioner is indeed an athlete of worth, being a swimmer, the order added that the question of relaxing the criteria for a particular student, such as the petitioner, would create administrative mayhem and cause disruption to the entire process of the university.

Case of availing sports quota

• The petitioner, a swimmer, moved the court, aggrieved by the university’s decision not to allot him a seat under the sports quota.
• Out of 25 available seats under this quota for the 2025-26 session, 9 had been filled, while 16 remained vacant.
• The petitioner contended that his participation in national-level swimming competitions representing West Bengal and Manipur qualified him for one of these remaining seats.
• Appearing for the university, senior advocate Soumya Majumdar, along with Sanjukta Dutta, argued that all of the certificates of the student are for sports meets held by certain individual bodies.
• They submitted that it does not satisfy the eligibility criteria as proposed in the Information Brochure.

‘Would create administrative mayhem’

• The criteria fixed by the university, which have not been challenged in the present petition, are unequivocal and refer to the qualification of the candidate, including participation of a candidate in the National Championship, whether it be junior/youth/senior Federation/National Games or higher.
• Clearly, the documents relied upon by the petitioner do not fall within any of the categories.
• Though terms in some cases are “National Sports” or “National Level”, they are really sports meets held by a particular body, such as DAV College, New Delhi, and the CBSE Games.
• They do not qualify or meet the selection criteria as proposed by the university for eligibility of a candidate to be admitted in the sports quota.
• There are indeed seats vacant in the university in the said sports quota, but the same cannot be given to the candidates who do not meet the criteria as fixed by the university.
• Since the criteria fixed by the university have not been challenged, the question of relaxing the criteria for a particular student, such as the petitioner, would create administrative mayhem and cause disruption to the entire process of the university.

• It has to be kept in mind that the admission to the university has closed sometime in November 2025, and the first semester examination has also been concluded on March 16, 2026.

University’s criteria

• Representing a state in a National Championship (Junior/Youth/Senior/Federation Cup/National Games) or higher conducted under the aegis of a Federation/Association recognised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports or the Indian Olympic Association.
• Representing a state in a National School Competition conducted by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI).

Students in court

• In December 2025, the Punjab and Haryana High Court denied relief to a man who appeared for the physical qualifiers for the post of sub-inspector but was disqualified for having scored lower marks in the swimming test owing to the “coldest winter day” of the year.
• Justice Jagmohan Bansal was hearing a plea of the aspirant who sought to set aside the final result, where he was declared disqualified, and a direction to the state to issue him an appointment letter.
• Observing that the petitioner did not raise a grievance during the trial, the court noted that all candidates were required to pass the test in the same swimming pool.
• The order continued, “He is claiming that due to the winter season, he could not achieve the target within the prescribed time. The South Asian Games (SAG) are played in an all-weather swimming pool, whereas the petitioner was asked to undergo trial in the winter season. There was no discrimination against the petitioner. All the candidates were asked to pass a test in the same swimming pool.”