Jammu: Rejecting allegations made by Para Archer Rakesh Kumar regarding his alleged exclusion from the sports quota jobs process under S.O.-12 of 2022, the Jammu and Kashmir Sports Council on Sunday said that the athlete had never applied for the advertised posts and his candidature was never available for consideration.
In a communiqué, the J&K Sports Council spokesperson after a video message of para-archer Rakesh Sharma was circulating on social media platforms, said it has come to the notice that certain statements attributed to Rakesh Kumar, Para Archer, have been circulated through various media platforms alleging that he was unfairly excluded from the selection process for appointment under S.O.-12 of 2022 governing the appointment of Outstanding Sportspersons.
“These assertions are factually incorrect and require immediate clarification in the interest of maintaining transparency and public confidence,” he said.
He stated that as per the official records maintained by the Department, Rakesh Kumar never submitted an application pursuant to the notification inviting applications for appointment under S.O.-12 of 2022 and consequently, his candidature was never available for scrutiny or consideration by the duly constituted Scrutiny Committee or Selection Committee.
The recruitment process was conducted in a transparent and rule-bound manner. Upon scrutiny of all applications received within the prescribed period, the General Merit List was published by the Youth Services & Sports Department, Civil Secretariat, J&K, on 19 July 2024 and placed in the public domain for a period of 15 days, specifically to invite objections, corrections, or grievances from applicants and other stakeholders, said the spokesperson.
“During this objection period, para-archer neither submitted any objection nor raised any grievance alleging his exclusion from the General Merit List, despite the Department providing an adequate opportunity to all concerned persons to point out any omission or discrepancy,” it read.
It was only after the selection process had substantially progressed and the Provisional Selection List was issued on February 11, 2026 that Rakesh Kumar submitted a representation seeking inclusion by way of backdoor entry in the selection process, read a communiqué.
The allegations that he was “excluded” from the selection process are wholly unsupported by the official record and the issue is not one of exclusion, but rather of non-participation in the recruitment process, it reads.
The Department reserves its right to take such action as may be permissible under law against any person found to be knowingly disseminating false or misleading information concerning official proceedings, with the object or effect of causing unwarranted public confusion or obstructing the orderly functioning of the recruitment process, read a statement.
The Sports Council however, has requested all stakeholders and members of the sporting fraternity to rely only on official communications and authenticated records while commenting upon matters of public importance.
Notably, the final list of athletes selected under the sports quota policy vide notification No. 02-JK (YSS) of 2026 released on June 10 triggered protests.
The Department of Youth Services and Sports had received a whopping over 200 objections from around 95 applicants and non-applicants after the publication of the provisional selection list in February this year.
