High Court Dismisses Petition Against Non-Granting of Bonus Marks for Yoga Participation

Jaipur, [Current Date] - The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the state's decision not to grant bonus marks to a candidate who participated in yoga events despite holding a certificate of participation.

The petitioner, who was a candidate for the post of Physical Training Instructor, had argued that his certificate in yoga should be considered as a sports certificate for the purpose of granting bonus marks. However, the court opined that the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports had clarified in a notification dated December 21, 2016, that yoga could not be recognized as a sport due to the lack of standardized competitions.

"The perusal of the above clearly leaves no manner of doubt that even if the Yoga is categorized as Sports, even then no benefit of the same can be given to the petitioners since it is not feasible to hold any competitive sports tournaments of Yoga and thus in strict sense it cannot be termed as sports for the purpose of according benefit of bonus marks," said the court bench of Justice Arun Monga.

The court relied on a communication from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, which stated that yoga lacks standardized competitions, making it unsuitable to be considered a sport. The court further noted that the petitioner did not possess a valid sports certificate recognized by the ministry.

Dismissing the petition, the court held that there were no grounds for interference in the state's decision not to grant bonus marks to the candidate based on his yoga participation.