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Time of India

Supreme Court stays HC order on Goa weightlifting coach recruitment

Panaji: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed an order of the high court that directed govt to proceed with the recruitment of a weightlifting coach for the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG). Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Woman weightlifter Vaishnavi Ugadekar, a two-time gold and silver medallist for the state in weightlifting who also participated in the National Games, challenged the order of the high court in the Supreme Court. The apex court on Monday issued notices to govt and stayed the order of the high court in the petition filed by Ugadekar, represented by advocate on record Salvador Santosh Rebello, with advocates Pradosh Dangui and Kritika. Ugadekar alleged bias by the examiner against whom she had complained in the past for harassment. Following her complaint, Goa govt last month decided to conduct the skill test process again for weightlifting with independent examiners/selectors. Mahesh Kavlekar, the other applicant who was found eligible, then went to the high court, which directed govt to proceed with the selection process as per schedule. The high court stated that it found govt's stand 'little surprising' and observed that merely because a complaint was filed by an unsuccessful candidate, only the written examination for the stream of weightlifting was cancelled, while the examinations for the post of coach in other streams like swimming and basketball were to be conducted as per schedule on June 26. 'It appears that the authorities are not conscious of the fact that once the candidate has appeared and participated in the process, he cannot thereafter call into action the whole process, and definitely not at the intermediate stage when the whole process is not yet complete,' stated the division bench comprising Justices Bharati Dangre and Nivedita Mehta. The bench said that upon clearing the preliminary test in the form of a skill test and physical test, it is imperative for the candidate to appear for the written examination, and upon that, the entire selection shall be said to be completed. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The high court held that state authorities attempted to interject the whole process despite the fact that Kavlekar proved to be successful in the two preliminary rounds and qualified himself for the written test. It added that merely because a complaint was filed, the test cannot be postponed, and he cannot be made to wait till a fresh advertisement is issued in respect of other streams when he will be subjected to the physical test and skill test. The high court added that this would cause immense injustice to the petitioner, who has experience working at SAG for more than a decade and definitely deserves a fair chance to participate in the process of selection. Ugadekar then went to the Supreme Court.