270 25.03. 2026 Ct. No. 24 Ab WPA 3651 of 2026 Purbayan Ghosh Vs. The State of West Bengal and others. --------------- Mr. Rabiul Islam, Mr. Masooq Rahman … for the petitioner. Mr. Biplab Guha Mr. Subrata Bhattacharjee … for the State. Mr. Soumya Majumdar, Ms. Sanjukta Dutta … for the University 1. The report filed by the University is taken on record. 2. The petitioner is aggrieved that in spite of being an eligible candidate under the sports quota, the petitioner has not been allotted a seat in the University in such quota. 3. There are 25 seats, which are available under the sports quota on the specific terms and conditions, 9 of which have already been filled up and the balance 16 remaining unfilled. 4. The criteria for qualification in sports quota has been provided in the Information Brochure in Notice No. FET/UG-ENGG-SPORTS/01/2025 dated November 10, 2025. The selection criteria under Clause E reads as under: “E. Selection Criteria including Sports Qualification Proforma and Procedure of Selecting Students for Admission to Various University Courses at UG Level under Sports Quota for the Session 2025-26: 2 Criteria for UG Level A) Candidate should have represented a state or its equivalent in any National Championship (Junior/ Youth/ Senior/ Federation Cup/ National Games) or higher conducted under the aegis of respective Federation/ Association recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports / Indian Olympic Association. OR B) Candidate should have represented a state in National School Competition conducted by School Games Federation of India (SGFI). OR C) Candidate must qualify by securing a position 1st/2nd/3rdin an individual event/sports or by being a member of the Champion / Runners up team in a team event/sports/games at Inter-Dist / State Championship (open) or higher, provided the event is conducted under the aegis of respective Federation/ Association recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports / Indian Olympic Association in the sports and games offered by the A.I.U. D) …….. 3 5. In terms of the criteria spelt out, a candidate should have represented either a State or its equivalent in any National Championship or higher, conducted by the respective Federation/Association recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports/Indian Olympic Association. From the documents disclosed by the petitioner appearing from page 15 to 20, Mr. Islam, learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner, urged that the petitioner has participated in National Level Swimming competition representing the State of West Bengal and Manipur and therefore, meets the selection criteria set forth by the University. 6. Mr. Majumder, learned Senior Advocate appearing for the University, submits that all of the certificates between pages 15 to 19 are for sports meets held by certain individual bodies. They do not satisfy the eligibility criteria as proposed in the Information Brochure. 7. I have heard the learned Advocate for the parties and considered the documents, 8. It is true that the petitioner is an Athlete of worth, being a swimmer. However, the criteria fixed by the University, which has not been challenged in the present petition, is clear and unequivocal and refers to qualification of the candidate being participation of a candidate in National Championship, whether it be junior/youth/senior Federation/National Games 4 or higher. 9. Clearly, the documents relied upon by the petitioner at pages 15 to 20 of the petition do not fall within any of the categories. Though terms in some cases as “National Sports” or “National Level”, they are really sports meet held by a particular body such as DAV College, New Delhi and the CBSE Games. Clearly, they do not qualify nor meet the selection criteria as proposed by the University for eligibility of a candidate to be admitted in the sports quota. 10. It is true that there are seats vacant in the University in the said sports quota, but the same cannot be given to the candidates, who do not meet the criteria as fixed by the University. Since the criteria fixed by the University has not been challenged, the question of relaxing the criteria for a particular student, such as the petitioner, would create administrative mayhem and cause disruption to the entire process of the University. 11. In addition, it has to be kept in mind that the admission to the University has closed sometime in November 2025 and the first semester examination have also been concluded on March 16, 2026. 12. In the afore-stated, though the petitioner is a meritorious student and worthy Athlete, since, he does not qualify the criteria as set forth by the University, the relief as prayed for in the petition 5 cannot be granted. 13. The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed. 14. There shall. However, be no order as to costs. 15. Urgent Photostat certified copy of this order, if applied for, be given to the parties on priority basis. (Reetobroto Kumar Mitra, J.)