Central Information Commission
David John vs Ministry Of Youth Affairs & Sports on 19 July, 2018
CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
(Room No.313, CIC Bhawan, Baba Gangnath Marg, Munirka, New Delhi-110067)
Before Prof. M. Sridhar Acharyulu (Madabhushi Sridhar), CIC
CIC/MOYAS/A/2018/128442
David John v. PIO, MOYAS
Order Sheet: RTI filed on 10.02.2018, CPIO replied on 06.03.2018, FAO on 09.04.2018, Second
appeal filed on 01.05.2018, Hearing on 18.07.2018;
Proceedings on 18.07.2018: Appellant present from NIC Thrissur, Public Authority represented
by CPIO Mr. Nimit Chopra at CIC;
Date of Decision-18.07.2018: Disposed of with directions.
ORDER
FACTS:
1. The appellant sought information regarding the requirements a sportsperson had to achieve to secure eligibility (wild card) to take part in 61stNational Shooting Championship at Thiruvanathapuram. He specifically sought for the copy of score sheet of competitor No. 0419 Mr. Mohan Jacob, who participated in 10m Air Pistol veterans men event, qualification score and competition in which he participated to attain the MQS qualifying, copy of the entry form and id card of Mr. Mohan Jacob and whether any shooter approached the court to get an entry into the 61st National Shooting Championship. The CPIO on 06.03.2018 provided point-wise information except on point number 3. The appellant filed first appeal on that ground. The FAA vide his order dated 09.04.2018 explained point no. 3 along with the recommendation of the technical Committee of NRAI. Claiming dissatisfaction with the response he approached this Commission.
Decision:
2. The officer of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has shown the minutes of National Rifle Association of India's technical committee meeting held on 06.10.2017, saying; "It was recommended that only the President NRAI should have the sole authority for grant of wild cards which he can issue at his discretion without assigning any reason whatsoever. Apart from the usual entry fee the applicant who are granted wild card should pay a sum of Rs 5000.00, which is non-refundable whether they achieve MQS CIC/MOYAS/A/2018/128442 Page 1 or not". Officer claimed that all information as available was given, whereas the appellant insisted that criterion for selecting Mr John and other sports persons was not given.
3. The appellant questioned what is basis of this arbitrary rule and sought the Ministry to address this issue because the President can arbitrarily qualify or disqualify the sportspersons from participating in such important events. He said: It is matter of career of young sports persons and there should be some criterion or guidelines to exercise such discretion. How can President decide wild cards to be given to some players and reject others without assigning any reason?" There appears merit in appellant's contention. It was submitted to the Commission that out of 5000 applied, only 250 were given wild cards (permit to participate) in the national sports event. The Officer said that they have no basis, no criterion was prescribed and no guidelines are available for selection except the above referred minutes which authorized the President to select.
According such an absolute discretion to the President to select a few hundreds from thousands of applicants might result in either arbitrary selections or corruption. One can even say, the corruption could be the clear means of selection. Even otherwise it is highly unreasonable and cannot stand the judicial scrutiny. The Commission is of view that the National Sports Federation, i.e., NRAI, which is the public authority under RTI Act, has a responsibility to give reasons for the decision of selecting a few among thousands. According to Section 4(1)(c) and (d), the public authority has a duty to voluntarily disclose reasons for the administrative or the quasi-judicial decisions and provide all the material factors that led to take such a policy decision. In this case, the NRAI has blatantly facilitated the arbitrary selection process for all times to come, which is highly unreasonable, undemocratic and arbitrary. The public authority i.e., MoYAS should have prevailed upon the Federation to develop a reasonable system of selection facilitating enough space for merit and eliminating corruption.
4. The Commission considers the President of NRAI as deemed CPIO and directs him to explain on what criteria the wild cards were issued by him. The Commission recommends all the members of Federation to reconsider their resolution to give complete powers to the President of the Federation and to develop reasonable criteria for selection. The Commission also recommends the CIC/MOYAS/A/2018/128442 Page 2 Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to take all the steps required to eliminate concentration of power of selection in one person and develop a scientific criteria to recognize eligible candidates for national sports events as sought by the appellant. All information shall be provided to the appellant before 20.08.2018 under intimation to this Commission. Disposed of.
SD/-
(M.Sridhar Acharyulu)
Central Information Commissioner
CIC/MOYAS/A/2018/128442 Page 3