Order issued on jobs for players

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Monday issued orders to implement two per cent quota for sportspersons in state government jobs. The sports quota is applicable for jobs to be filled through direct recruitment by various  government agencies.

The sports department issued GO Ms No.5 to this effect. Minister for Sports T. Padma Rao Goud and secretary Burra Venkatesham released the GO copies at Secretariat on Monday.

“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had announced 2 per cent sports quota in April while felicitating medal winners of the recent Commonwealth Games. The GO to this effect has been issued today which will come into force with immediate effect. We thank the CM for encouraging sports in Telangana. The 2 per cent sports quota in government jobs will go a long way in encouraging youth to take up sports seriously,” Mr Goud said.

However, this additional two per cent quota will not push reservations over the Supreme Court stipulated limit of overall 50 per cent quota. This is because this sports quota is implemented as ‘horizontal reservation’ which means it will be part of the existing 50 per cent quota being provided to OCs, BCs, SCs, and STs.

The two per cent sports quota will be part of the 29 per cent reservations for BCs (including four per cent for Muslims under BC-E), 15 per cent for SCs and six per cent for STs.

This horizontal quota for sports is already in force for admissions into professional courses and is now being extended to government jobs.

Horizontal quota means the reservations given to physically challenged, children of Armed personnel, NCC and sports within the existing quotas for OCs, SCs, STs and BCs. The quota is applicable to sportspersons who excel in state, national and international-level sporting events.

Sports Authority of Telangana State chairman Allipuram Venkateshwar Reddy also pitched for a part of the Excise cess to be set aside for sports. “The Excise cess file will soon be cleared by the Chief Minister, and this amount — nearly Rs 100 crore — will be very useful to so many sportspersons from rural, urban areas. SATS will also start new academies and sports schools in the entire Telangana State to groom champions at the national and international levels,” he said.

The government has also announced special allowances for District (Rs 3,000) and State (Rs 5,000) level players, Mr Reddy added.