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Judgment
Suvir Sehgal, J.
By invoking the writ jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of India, petitioner is seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider his candidature under the category reserved for sports for admission to B.Tech in University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), Panjab University, Chandigarh for the academic session 2025-26.
Mr. Sandeep Singh, Advocate states that petitioner is a sportsperson, who is a national medalist in lawn tennis as well as soft tennis and has been issued sports gradation certificates. He submits that petitioner cleared the JEE (Main) Test and applied for admission to B.Tech in UIET on 18.05.2026 by submitting the application along with all the requisite documents. He was declared eligible and his name was placed at Sr. No.112 in the provisional eligibility list under 5% reserved category of sports. Counsel states that the counselling was scheduled for 03.05.2026, but petitioner was not considered in the sports category and he was informed that the sport of soft tennis has been excluded from the list of sports circulated by the Panjab University. Assailing the removal of the game of soft tennis from the approved list of games circulated by the University, petitioner has approached this Court.
Placing reliance upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Divjot Sekhon Versus State of Punjab and others, decided on 06.01.2026, counsel for the petitioner has argued that rules of the game cannot be altered once the game has begun. He asserts that the criteria for selection cannot be changed after the process of selection has commenced. This submission has been controverted by Mr. Akshay Kumar Goyal, counsel for the Panjab University by making a reference to the stand taken in the reply, which has been filed and is taken on record.
We have heard counsel for the parties and considered their respective submissions, besides analysing the documents relied upon by them.
The relevant extract of the counselling schedule issued by Joint Admission Committee (JAC) for admission to B.Tech in UIET, Punjab University, Chandigarh is reproduced here under:-
Registration process commences : 14th May 2026 (Thursday)
Last date to complete the online : 21st June 2026 (Sunday) registration process Opening of Correction Window 22nd June 2026 (Monday)-23rd June 2026 (During the Opening of Correction (Tuesday) Window, the Online Document Verification Process will remain suspended)
As per this notification, the registration of the candidates was to commence from 14.05.2026 and the last date for the online registration was 21.06.2026. Panjab University issued guidelines dated 05.05.2026, Annexure P-1, to regulate admissions under sports category. The relevant extract of the guidelines is reproduced here under:-
3.3. Reservation under Sports Category is meant only for those active sportspersons1 who participate in the Campus, University, State, National, International level sports tournaments. Such students will be considered for admission only if:
(i)their achievement in sports relates to their activities held each year in two different academic sessions in the same game and in the same event4 of the concerned game during Three years i.e. 1st July 2023 to 30th June 2026 (relaxable to Four years2 in exceptional cases, on merit, for outstanding sportspersons³).
(ii)they are otherwise also eligible for participation in Inter College, Inter University tournaments as per latest eligibility rules available on website of Association of Indian Universities. Candidates applying for sports quota must also be eligible on the basis of age to participate in the Inter College and Inter University Competitions representing Panjab University for the next one year of their course duration after taking admission (as per eligibility rules of sports participation of Panjab University).
(iii)It is essential to qualify the process of screening of documents according to the provisions of the guidelines for reserved category of sports by the candidate for appearing in the sports counselling. The candidate whose required documents are found in conformity with the provisions mentioned in the guidelines will only be eligible for sports counselling. No document will be accepted after the date fixed for sports counselling.
(iv)The sports counselling includes verification of original documents as mentioned in the guidelines for reserved category of sports, qualifying the skill & game performance test and allocation of marks to the original sports certificates as per criteria given in Annexure-III subject to the other provisions of these guidelines for reserved category of sports. It is essential to show original documents for document verification on the day of sports counselling. The skill & game performance test will be conducted for those candidates only who qualify in the original document verification. The candidate has to qualify the skill & game performance test for allocation of marks to the original sports certificates for preparing sports merit.
(v)The games and their events for which Panjab University will send its teams for Inter University competitions for the preceding session of the admission session i.e. 2025-2026 (The Tentative list of games is at Annexure - IV).
(vi)Sports participation in the preceding year of the admission in University/Institutional/State/National sports tournaments is essential for students seeking admission in Panjab University campus through migration/ PUMEET/ PULEET/Permission to attend the classes in Panjab University. ”
A perusal of the above reproduced extract shows that list of games recognized for reservation under sports category is given separately. Annexure-IV appended with the guidelines contains a tentative list of 45 games, including soft tennis (men & women). These guidelines were uploaded on the E-notice Board of the Department of Campus Sports of the University on 05.01.2026 and were sent to all the academic departments, so that they could timely prepare their respective brochures for admission in the academic session 2026-27. The tentative list of games was prepared much before Inter-University competitions were held in different universities across the country from October, 2025 to April, 2026 in accordance with the sports calendar for the academic year 2025-26 issued by the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi. The final list of 37 games for which the University had sent its team to participate in the Inter-University games for the session 2025-26 was sent by the Department of Sports vide email dated 08/09.06.2026, Annexure R-1. The revised list of games in super-session of the tentative list mentioned in the sports guidelines, Annexure P-1, was approved and uploaded on the website on 17.06.2026. A second revised list was issued on 29.06.2026, Annexure R-2, with 38 games. Categoric stand of the University is that the first revised list was uploaded on 17.06.2026, that is, during the period when the process for registration for admission to B.Tech was undergoing. As noticed above, the last date for online registration to the B.Tech course was 21.06.2026. 10 games were excluded from the revised list, which was uploaded on 17.06.2026, including soft tennis (men & women). As the revised list had been uploaded prior to the last date for the completion of the online registration to B.Tech, petitioner cannot argue that the rules of the game have been changed after the admission process had commenced. Judgment in Divjot Sekhon’s case (supra) is not applicable to the factual position of the present case. This Court, therefore, does not find any substance in the contention raised by counsel for the petitioner.
Petition, being devoid of merit, is dismissed, though with no order as to costs.