Tokyo Paralympics: Delhi HC seeks PCI's reply on shooter Naresh Sharma's plea

In a major development, the Delhi High Court has now asked for a valid response from the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) and others regarding Paralympic shooter Naresh Kumar Sharma's petition. This came after Sharma challenged the decision of a single bench led by justice Rekha Palli. The Paralympian shooter alleged that PCI had deliberately ignored him and instead selected Deepak for the Tokyo Paralympics for events like R1, R3, and R7.

Sharma, who is a five-time Paralympian shooter and recipient of the Arjuna Award and Rajiv Gandhi State Sports Award, said the selection committee had "planned to exclude" his name from the list. Meanwhile, another division of the Bench of Justice, DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh issued a fresh notice to PCI and the Sports Ministry and scheduled a further hearing on August 6.

Shooter Naresh Sharma challenges High Court decision

Sharma, through Advocates Satyam Singh and Amit Sharma, filed a fresh appeal and claimed that Justice Rekha Palli erred and did not consider the facts in proper perspective and also denied the appeal of the petitioner. Through his petition, Sharam highlighted that the PCI violated the selection guidelines. 

"The violation of the selection criteria at the hands of PCI called for the intervention of the Learned Single judge and allowing the participation of the appellant for his participation in the Tokyo Paralympics, 2020 in the R7 event," read Sharma's plea. 

"The Selection Committee deliberately did not take into consideration his actual average score. There was a premeditated plan on the part of the Selection Committee to exclude the name of the petitioner. The final average score of the shooter, which was taken into consideration by the Selection Committee in selecting the shooters, was not made available on the website of PCI, "the plea further read.

PCI's response to the matter

Earlier, the selection committee for Tokyo Paralympics 2020 denied all the allegations thrown by Shooter Sharma. The PCI, before the single bench, said the selection process was unbiased and the committee followed all the important guidelines during the selection process. 

The PCI also stated that Sharma was deliberately trying to create controversy and there was no fact in his case.

Meanwhile, the high court had also asked Sharma when the event would start. Sharma answered that the last date to submit the application form is August 2 and the event is slated to start on August 25.

IMAGE: ANI/PARALYMPIC.ORG

(With Some ANI Inputs)