JUDGMENT :

1. Both these writ petitions have been preferred by petitioners being aggrieved of action of the respondents in not considering their candidature for appointment under the Rajasthan Out Of Turn Appointment To Sports Medal Winners Rules, 2017.

2. Petitioner-Manini Kaushik won following medals to her credit in the sports of shooting:-

(i) Gold Medal in team event of 10 Meter Air Riffle Women Junior Team in 52nd ISSF World Companionship, Changwon, South Korea in 2018 (World Record);

(ii) Bronze Medal in Asian Championship, 2017 (Junior Category).

3. Petitioner- Ali Aman Elahi won following medals to his credit in the sports of shooting:-

(i) Silver Medal in team event of Trap Junior Men Team in 52nd ISSF World Championship, Changwon, South Korea in 2018;

(ii) Bronze Medal in team events of Trap Junior Men Team and Trap Junior Mixed Team respectively in ISSF Junior World Cup held at Sydney, Australia in 2018.

4. It is submitted that their candidature was rejected on the ground of having won the medals in Women Junior Team and Junior Category.

5. The State Government, in order to promote sports activities in the State of Rajasthan and in order to support the sports persons, vide notification dated 15/03/2013, brought about 'Rajasthan Various Services (Amendment) Rules, 2013 which substituted the earlier rules existing in various service rules, as under:-

"Reservation of vacancies for outstanding sports persons :- Reservation of vacancies for outstanding sports persons shall be 2% of the total vacancies outside the purview of the commission in that year earmarked for direct recruitment. In the event of non-availability of the eligible and suitable sportspersons in a particular year, the vacancies so reserved for them shall be filled in accordance with the normal procedure and such vacancies shall not be carried forward to the subsequent year. The reservation for sportspersons shall be treated as horizontal reservation and it shall be adjusted in the respective category to which the sportspersons belong.

EXPLANATION :- "Outstanding sportspersons" shall mean and include the sportspersons belonging to the State, who. –

(i) represented Indian Team in Individual or in Team event in any International Tournament of any Sports and Games, recognized by the Indian Olympic Association or concerned recognized National Sports Federation;

Or

(ii) represented Indian Team in Individual or in Team event in any International Tournament of any Sports and Games, recognized by the Indian School Sport Federation or concerned recognized National School Games Federation;

Or

(iii) Medal Winner in the Individual or in Team event in any National Tournament of any Sports and Games, recognized by the Indian Olympic Association or concerned recognized National Sports Federation;

Or

(iv) Medal Winner in the All India Inter university Tournament in Individual event or in Team event in any Sports and Games, recognized by Indian Universities Association."

6. The explanation, as above, was substituted vide notification dated 21/11/2019 in Various Service Rules as under:-

"EXPLANATION :- "Outstanding sportspersons" shall mean sportspersons who are bona fide resident of the State of Rajasthan, and,-

(i) represented Indian Team in Individual or in Team event in any International Tournament/championship of any Sports and Games mentioned in column number 3 of table given below organized by the international sports body mentioned in column number 2 of the said table,-

S.No. International Sports Body Name of the Tournament/Championship

1 2 3

1 International Olympic Committee (IOC) Olympic Games (Summer)

2 Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Asian Games

3 South Asian Olympic Council (SAOC) South Asian Games; Commonly known as SAF games

4 Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) Commonwealth Games

5 International Sports Federation affiliated to IOC World Cup/World Championship

6 Asian Sports Federation affiliated to OCA Asian Championship

7 International School Sports Federation (ISSF) International