Srinagar: International water sports star and high-profile sports administrator Bilquis Mir has filed a contempt case against the Jammu and Kashmir sports department at the Central Administrative Tribunal for withholding her salary for over two-and-a-half years despite a clear order by the tribunal in February to release it.
The contempt petition, filed against the commissioner secretary, Jammu and Kashmir Youth Services and Sports Department, and the director general of the department, mentions that the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in its February 5 ruling had clearly directed them to release her salary.
The problems for Mir, India’s sole female judge for kayaking and canoeing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, started in November 2023 when the J-K Anti-Corruption Branch filed a case against her under the J-K Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code, charging her with taking gratification beyond legal remuneration for official work and involvement in a criminal conspiracy.
Last July, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had quashed the FIR and delivered a scathing indictment of J-K authorities, saying “it seems that the people at the helm of affairs are leaving no stone unturned in harassing such talented people”.
Mir’s illustrious 28-year career began at the age of eight, and her achievements include representing India at the 2009 Canoeing and Kayaking World Cup in Hungary, where she finished 8th.
She was the first Indian woman appointed as a judge in the Asian Games and served as the national coach for the women’s kayaking and canoeing team for the 2012 London Olympics.
Mir also holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman to earn an international coaching diploma from the Semmelweis University Institute of Coaching and Sport in Budapest, Hungary.
Her coaching roles extended to the chief coach for the women’s national team in the U-23 Canoe Slalom World Championship (Italy 2018) and national coach for the 9th Asian Canoe Slalom Championship (Toyama, Japan, 2016).
But what she terms as the peak of her career was when she was selected as a judge for the Paris Olympics for which she had to fight and see a court order to catch a flight.
This year, Mir was appointed the chief coach of the national kayaking and canoeing team for the Asian Games, to be held in Japan from September 19 to October 4.
But the J-K government did not release her, prompting the Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association to approach the J-K High Court with an urgent petition seeking directions to the Union territory administration for releasing her immediately as the team was suffering.
Mir has been struggling to get her salary released since November 2023.
In its February 5 order, the CAT bench directed the J-K sports department to “release the legitimately earned salary” of Mir from November 2023 till date and gave the top officials a strict deadline of 15 days to complete the entire exercise.
In her petition, Mir spoke about the extreme financial and professional strain caused by the bureaucratic impasse, stating that the continued non-compliance has caused grave prejudice and financial hardship after she was deprived of her livelihood despite having actually rendered her services.
The plea made it clear that the continued inaction was not inadvertent but was a deliberate, willful, and intentional attempt aimed at defeating the lawful directions issued by the tribunal, thereby undermining the law and eroding the authority of the judicial institution.
According to the contempt petition, the 15-day window has long since elapsed with zero compliance from the J-K administration, which has not released the legitimately earned salary.
The petition said the original order of February was passed in the presence of the counsel for the respondents, meaning the department had explicit and immediate knowledge of the binding judicial mandate.
The legal battle for getting her financial dues goes back to late 2025 when Mir filed a writ petition in the high court seeking immediate release of her salary.
Recognising the jurisdictional framework of the matter, the high court transferred the case to the CAT’s Srinagar bench for formal adjudication.
The high court had also referred to a communication that it was a celebration and triumph for every Indian woman that Mir has achieved what no one else did in over a 100 years of the Olympics, and said the country had produced very few sports personalities and coaches of the level of Mir.
“No surprise that even after more than 75 years of Independence, this country has failed to develop a sporting culture, as a consequence whereof, we have failed to produce sportsmen/women of international standards in proportion to our population,” the high court had said.
The court also said that the attitude of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) in criminalising non-acquisition of a technical qualification by Mir “speaks volumes about the manner in which we are treating our sporting heroes”.
In the strongly-worded order, the court said it was “alarmed” to note that the ACB even tried to go into the issue as to whether the answer scripts of Mir in her graduate examination were properly evaluated by the examiners.
“This attitude of the ACB clearly smacks of wreaking vengeance upon the petitioner (Mir). The present case appears to be nothing but a witch-hunt launched against the petitioner by vested interests,” it said.
