Rajasthan HC Quashes Rejection of Sports Quota Appointment, Directs Teacher Grade III Posting Within 60 Days

The Rajasthan High Court held that a candidate who represented Haryana in an All India Inter-University Cricket Championship cannot be denied the Outstanding Sports Person reservation if she is a bonafide Rajasthan resident, and that a departmental circular cannot override a statutory notification issued under Article 309 of the Constitution.

Justice Anand Sharma, sitting singly at the Jaipur Bench of the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan, on 21 May 2026 quashed an order dated 09.12.2025 passed by the Director, Elementary Education, Rajasthan, Bikaner, which had rejected the representation of Mamta Kumari for appointment as Teacher Grade III Level II (Maths-Science) under the Outstanding Sports Person category. The court directed the respondents to issue an appointment order within 60 days of receipt of a certified copy of the judgment, provided the petitioner was otherwise eligible. The rejection had rested on a State Government circular dated 08.01.2020, which the court found could not override the express terms of the recruitment notification or the binding precedent of a Co-ordinate Bench.

The Dispute Before the Court

Mamta Kumari, a resident of Village Kasimpura, District Jhunjhunu, had been selected in the Outstanding Sports Person category for the post of Teacher Grade III Level II (Maths-Science). Her appointment was withheld on the ground that her sports certificate related to participation in the Inter-University Cricket Championship while representing the State of Haryana, not the State of Rajasthan.

She had earlier filed S.B. CWP No. 17335/2019 before this court. That petition was disposed of on 28.08.2025, with directions modelled on those given by a Co-ordinate Bench at Jodhpur in Raghunath Ram v. State of Rajasthan & Ors., S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 10141/2021, decided on 25.08.2021. Pursuant to those directions, she submitted a representation before the Director, Elementary Education. The Director rejected it on 09.12.2025, again invoking the circular dated 08.01.2020, which takes the position that the Outstanding Sports Person benefit is available only to those who represented the State of Rajasthan.

Mamta Kumari then filed the present writ petition, S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 950/2026, challenging the rejection order and seeking a direction to consider her candidature and grant appointment with all consequential benefits.

The Legal Issue: Scope of the Advertisement Clause

The central question was whether the advertisement clause governing the Outstanding Sports Person category required a candidate to have represented Rajasthan specifically, or whether participation in a recognised All India Inter-University Tournament was sufficient, regardless of which State the candidate represented.

The relevant clause in the advertisement, issued pursuant to a notification of the Department of Personnel dated 15.03.2013, provides that an “Outstanding Sports Person” includes a player of the State who has won a medal individually or as part of a team in an All India Inter-University Tournament recognised by the Association of Indian Universities.

The State's position, grounded in the circular dated 08.01.2020 issued by the Deputy Secretary, Elementary Education Department, was that the intention of the rule is to promote sports persons who represented Rajasthan. Since Mamta Kumari's certificate was for representing Haryana in the Inter-University Cricket Championship, the State argued she was rightly excluded.

How the Bench Reasoned

Justice Anand Sharma read the advertisement clause and found its language “broad and unqualified.” The clause nowhere stipulates that participation must be while representing Rajasthan alone. Eligibility, the court held, attaches to participation in the recognised tournament itself, not to the particular State represented by the candidate. A restrictive interpretation of the kind urged by the State would defeat the plain and literal meaning of the clause.

The court then turned to the binding precedent. A Co-ordinate Bench at the Principal Seat, Jodhpur had already addressed an identical question in Imran Khan v. State of Rajasthan, S.B. CWP No. 17693/2019, decided on 22.08.2023. That bench had held that as long as a candidate is a resident of Rajasthan and has won a medal in a team or individual event, the candidate cannot be excluded simply because they represented a State other than Rajasthan. The purpose of the notification, the Jodhpur bench had reasoned, is to encourage and incentivise residents of Rajasthan who have excelled in sports, so that their talents are recognised and they can contribute to the State's sporting performance after recruitment.

On the circular dated 08.01.2020, the Imran Khan bench had held that the notification dated 15.03.2013 and the notification dated 21.11.2019 were issued by the Department of Personnel in exercise of power conferred under Article 309 of the Constitution and therefore carry statutory force. The clarificatory circular of 08.01.2020, issued by the Deputy Secretary, Elementary Education Department, is a subordinate administrative communication and cannot override the express provisions of the Rules or the statutory notifications. The settled position, as stated in that judgment, is that a circular issued against the mandate of a notification must concede.

Justice Anand Sharma found that the Director, Elementary Education had been aware of the Imran Khan judgment — it had been placed before the court in the earlier round of litigation — yet the rejection order of 09.12.2025 mechanically repeated the same circular-based reasoning. The Imran Khan judgment had not been reversed by any higher court and had attained finality. The State was therefore bound to follow it. The court described the rejection order as “an audacious attempt to undermine the binding direction given by this Court” and held it liable to be quashed.

The court also noted that the petitioner's status as a bonafide resident of Rajasthan was not in dispute. The sole ground for denial was that her certificate related to representing Haryana in the Inter-University tournament. That ground, having been squarely addressed and rejected in Imran Khan, could not sustain the rejection.

Outcome

The court quashed and set aside the order dated 09.12.2025 passed by the Director, Elementary Education, Rajasthan, Bikaner. It declared Mamta Kumari eligible for consideration in the Outstanding Sports Person category. The respondents were directed to issue an appointment order on the post of Teacher Grade III Level II (Science-Maths) within 60 days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of the order, subject to her being otherwise eligible. All pending applications in the matter were also disposed of.