High Court upholds Tendulkar’s RS nomination

New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging the nomination of cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha, saying that a sport was an art like singing and dancing as it had beauty and attracted millions of people.

“We are unable to find any error requiring judicial interference, the scope whereof in any case is very limited, in the nomination to the Rajya Sabha of Sachin Tendulkar and, resultantly, dismiss the petition,” said a division bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.

The bench said sport also came under the expression “art”, like singing and dancing, as it had beauty and attracted millions of people.

Sport attracted people because of the level of skill needed to play, many spectators go to watch all forms of sport every year and thoroughly enjoy themselves, said the court.

“In India, cricket is a sport of great importance, emotions and joy. Every match is a die-for match for all Indians. Cricket definitely needs skill that is accomplished by mere practice and experience. Here, when we speak of cricket in India, Tendulkar’s contribution to cricket is worth the mention,” the court said.

“We are of the opinion that the framers of the constitution, by adopting the principle of nomination to Rajya Sabha, ensured that the nation receives the services of the most distinguished persons… By nominating them to the Rajya Sabha, the state enables them to enrich the debates by their expertise and knowledge,” the court said.

The court’s observation came on a petition filed by Ram Gopal Singh Sisodia, a former Delhi legislator, claiming that Tendulkar did not possess “special knowledge and practical experience”, a criterion prescribed under Article 80 of the constitution for such nomination.

The plea said the constitution allowed the government to nominate to the Rajya Sabha people only from four fields – arts, science, literature and social science, and the nomination of a sports person to the Rajya Sabha was unconstitutional.

The court said: “The question is whether the ability to serve the cricket ball well is within a skill and can be considered to be an ability to bring it under the expression ‘art’.”

“In this context, it may be added that a skill can be a natural talent like singing or painting or dancing or it can be something you have been taught and you have a great deal of experience in the field one practices.”

The bench also said that the question before it was “whether sportspersons can be nominated under Article 80, there is no challenge to the name Sachin Tendulkar. He along with the incumbent prime minister and the likes of economists like Amartya Sen has been included in the list drawn up by Time magazine in the year 2010 of the world’s 100 most influential people.”

“One can easily describe and discuss the aesthetic pleasure of watching Sachin Tendulkar bat on the field. Every single individual watching any sport gets associated with it with emotions and with every single four, six, a goal, a foul can pump everyone’s heart out,” the court said.

“To take cricket as an example, when we are watching a match and Sachin Tendulkar turns his wrists at the very last moment, flicking the blade of the bat towards the onside just as the ball arrives under his eyes, we experience the beauty of his art or skill for that matter: not just poise and grace but also concision and completeness. If we can say within its own terms, it cannot be improved upon,” the court said, justifying Tendulkar’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha.

The central government while favouring Tendulkar’s nomination informed the court that it was according to a constitutional provision.

The cricketer was nominated by the government to the upper house of parliament April 26.

IANS 2012-12-19 20:06:08