Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's job offer letters to 11 athletes remain on paper

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s distribution of job offer letters to 11 Karnataka sportspersons last year was a moment of relief for the state’s sporting community. However, seven months later, the promise remains unfulfilled due to two unrelated issues that have stalled the athletes’ hiring process.

After years of anticipation and a commitment made in the 2023 State Budget, Siddaramaiah personally handed out job offer letters for various government departments to a select group of athletes at his residence Krishna on August 4, 2024.

However, DH has learnt that none of the recipients has been appointed to their respective positions.

A source from the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports (DYES) attributed the delay to the state government’s decision to halt all government recruitments in response to demands for internal reservation among Scheduled Castes, indirectly impacting these appointments as well.

“DYES verified all their sports certificates and gave the offer letters. There ended our role. The government departments concerned (allocated to 11 athletes) are in the final stages of further verification before handing in the appointment letters.

However, the recruiters are waiting for a go ahead from the DPAR (Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms) as the state government has temporarily stopped all recruitments due to the SC internal reservation row,” explained the source.

In a separate development, the state government put on hold its September 2024 notification that reserved 2 per cent of posts in state civil services for sportspersons under direct recruitment. The decision, made in December last year, was ascribed to a request from DYES to DPAR to temporarily halt the processing of the sports quota notification in order to revise eligibility criteria and make them more specific.

The twin issues have inadvertently stalled the processing of the 11 athletes’ offer letters, even though their appointments are not done under the 2 per cent sports quota.