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The Hindu
01-08-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
HC directs Telangana Sports Authority to pay compensation to student
Observing that it was 'classic example of the apathy being shown to encourage sports in the country', the Telangana High Court directed the Sports Authority of Telangana to pay compensation to a youngster who was denied of engineering college seat under sports quota. Justice T. Vinod Kumar of the HC, pronouncing verdict in a writ petition filed by a teenaged chess player challenging denial of engineering seat to him under sports quota, said it was a case of the 'sportsmen being subjected to mercy of people at the helm of affairs of the so-called sports authorities'. The petitioner, M. Shreeshwan of Miyapur in Hyderabad, appeared for TS-EAPCET-2024, secured 15,884 rank and applied for admission in computer science branch of engineering course under sports quota. A chess player, the teenager participated in Asian Youth Chess Championship in 2019 and secured third place while the FIDE awarded him 'International Master of Chess Champion'. Even the Sports Authority of Telangana felicitated and awarded him one lakh rupees of cash prize. The Sports Authority and the JNTU decided that the chess player was 'not eligible' for admission under sports quota going by the provisions of the different government orders connected to filling up seats under sports quota. The sports authority declaring the student not eligible for sports quota having itself given one lakh rupees cash reward 'only goes to show that it lacks basic knowledge of the game'. The counter affidavits filed by the sports authority and its evaluation and scrutiny committees show they verified documents of the students in a lackadaisical manner without even waiting for clarification from the All India Chess Federation, the Judge said. Time had come to introspect whether assigning the responsibility of selecting eligible candidates for sports quota to 'an irresponsible organisation like the Sports Authority', the Judge said in his order. The Judge directed the Sports Authority of Telangana to pay compensation to the student since he failed to secure seat because of its failure to select him under sports quota. The compensation should be the differential amount of the fee the student had paid for securing the seat in merit quota.
The Hindu
03-06-2025
- General
- The Hindu
HC sets aside local court's gag order against media houses
Telangana High Court had set aside a gag order passed by a local court here against some newspapers, TV channels, web portals and media organisations directing them not report any defamatory content against Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited company and its management. A bench of Justices T. Vinod Kumar and P. Sree Sudha, allowing a batch of three appeals filed by media organisations, said the trial court's ad-interim ex-parte injunction order was 'unreasoned'. The said order was contrary to the mandate under Civil Procedure Code and hence impermissible, the Division Bench said. While passing such direction without issuing notices to the opposite parties, the court should record reasons as to why such order should be passed. The trial court passed the order but did not specify the time within which the respondents can get it vacated. This had deprived the appellants' right to file counter affidavit, the Bench observed. The two-judge bench observed that gag orders should be scrutinized though they were meant to maintain the integrity of legal proceedings. The courts should ensure that such gag orders did not infringe upon the fundamental rights like the right to free speech. These rights can be curtailed only in accordance with Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India. Citing a Supreme Court verdict, the Division Bench noted that 'freedom of speech and expression was construed to include the freedom to circulate one's views by words of mouth or in writing or through audio-visual instrumentalities. This included the right to propagate one's views through the print media or any other communication channel like radio or television subject to reasonable restrictions. The Bench also noted that the company filed the suits for damages nearly a year after the publication of news. The company also suppressed the fact that it had filed another suit in a court at Khammam seeking similar relief. This amounted to clear abuse of the process of law, the verdict said. Since the gag order was passed without adhering to established legal principles, it cannot be sustained, the Bench said.
