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Special Olympics International Football Championship, 2019 to befall as per schedule
The Special Olympics International Football Championship is an initiative of the Special Olympics Organization which supports and motivates the differently abled people to participate in various sports tournaments. The championship for the year 2019 is scheduled to happen in Chennai, India from 3rd of August to 5th of August 2019.
This championship is amongst the biggest humanitarian events across the globe. Around 150 differently abled participants from about 30 countries will participate in the championship which will be viewed by more than 1,00,000 spectators. The championship will have its own opening and closing ceremonies, special parade and many celebrity performances to ensure the entertainment of all the spectators.
But before the championship could commence a PIL was filed before the Madras High Court by a Chennai resident challenging the selection process of the event. The petition was filed by the mother of a differently abled athlete wherein she alleged that the selection process was not fair and there was favoritism on part of the selection committee.
She alleged that three differently abled athletes were barred from participating in the event due to the unfair selection process undertaken by the Special Olympics Bharat – Tamil Nadu officials. She further prayed before the Madras High Court that the entire event be postponed pending the decision of the case.
Not only this but the matter also raised question on the functioning of the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The petitioner asked the court to ensure that the Ministry formulates certain rules, regulations and guidelines which ensure that such injustice does not occur in the future.
The PIL brought to light the fact that there are only two acts on this subject which are The Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 and The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Both the Acts deal with various other matters on the subject but none of the Act specifies any process of selection which is to be followed by the selection committee and hence this loose end becomes the reason of unfair selections.
Mr. J Paul Devasagayam, Area Director Special Olympics Bharat – Tamil Nadu and M S Johan Nagarajan, Senior Sports Manager Special Olympics Asia Pacific, Chennai were the key personnel associated with the matter. However, when the matter was heard by the Madras High Court neither of them were present nor were they represented by their lawyers, being aggrieved by this act the High Court ordered both of them to appear before the court on Monday and pay a fine of Rs. 25,000/- each.
The petitioners claimed that both of these key personnel have been misappropriating funds and using unfair means to select the athletes. They have been inclined towards the training and promotion of only the rich and wealthy athletes to fulfill their own needs. Also, the selection was not finalized till the last week and no announcements were made regarding the selection process.
The court heard all the allegations and complaints of the petitioner and held that it is not possible for them to postpone the entire championship. Since the event id of an international nature and there are 30 countries involved postponing the event on the last moment would cause great hardship to all the athletes and spectators.
The court further held that since the issue is of the 3 differently abled athletes being out of the selection process it is only reasonable that the three athletes in question be allowed to take part in the championship. Hence, Dinesh Kumar, Prem Shankar and Kevin George were allowed to participate in the Special Olympic International Football Championship, 2019.
