Top court notice to Centre on plea to make sports fundamental right

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to Centre, state governments and Union Territories on a PIL seeking directions to make sports a part of the Fundamental Rights as well as the promotion of sports education in the country.

A bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageswara Rao sought a response within four weeks on the Public Interest Litigation filed by a law student.

Kanishka Pandey approached the top court seeking direction to the government “not to make any discrimination between the education and sports” and to treat sports as part and parcel of sports curriculum.

Advocate Rajeev Dubey, counsel appearing for Pandey, contended that the government and various stakeholders evolve a sporting culture in the country. The government has to strive for the promotion of sports education, sports values and sports culture as part of education, Dubey said.

The PIL said that sports should be included among academics from “nursery to post-graduate level and to the fundamental right to education.”

“Sports should be included in the curriculum from nursery to secondary level and education with sports subject should be imparted to the child from the very beginning of education. Children’s talent and sports aptitude should be tested from the elementary school days itself so that the talent of a child can be improved and developed through training and education,” said the PIL.

There should be a compulsory provision for sports in the school budget which should be utilised for sports activity only. Also, there should be one post of sports secretary in students unions, it added.

“Issue direction to constitute a high-level committee of parliamentarians, academicians and sportspersons to make appropriate suggestions to the amendment in the Constitution of India to include sports as a Fundamental Right in Part III, especially in Article 21A of the Constitution of India,” the plea said.