Railway Board Issues Fresh Clarification on Validity of Sports Achievement Certificates for Recruitment

The Railway Board has issued a new clarification—RBE No. 118/2025, dated 24 November 2025—to bring uniformity and transparency in the use of sports achievement certificates for recruitment and other establishment matters across Indian Railways. The clarification supersedes all previous instructions on the subject and ties the validity of certificates directly with the recognition status of National Sports Federations (NSFs) under the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (MoYAS) .

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MoYAS Recognition Now the Sole Basis for Valid Certificates

The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has recently revamped its online portal for recognising National Sports Federations, updating the list periodically on its website. To avoid inconsistency across zonal railways and prevent disputes or litigation, the Railway Board has now aligned its recruitment norms with MoYAS’ recognised list.

According to the latest order (Para 2), the Board has approved the following key decisions:

1. MoYAS-Recognised Federations Automatically Recognised by Railways

For any sporting discipline recognised by Indian Railways, if MoYAS recognises a federation as the NSF, it will be deemed recognised by the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) for recruitment and other establishment matters .

2. Only Certificates Issued by Recognised NSFs to Be Accepted

All future sports quota recruitments shall rely only on certificates issued by MoYAS-recognised NSFs.

Recruitment cannot be based on:

• Certificates issued for National Championships conducted by federations not recognised by MoYAS at the time of the event.
  This safeguards the recruitment process from unverified or invalid certificates .

3. Mandatory Verification Through MoYAS Website

Zonal Railways and Production Units must verify:

• Recognition status of the NSF
• Validity of sports certificates

Verification must be done as on the recruitment date through the MoYAS portal at:
https://yas.nic.in/sports/recognised-sports-federation-or-bodies
(As provided in Para 2(iii)) .

4. Past Cases Will Not Be Reopened

The order clearly states that any earlier cases processed under old instructions shall not be revisited. This protects the finality of already-decided cases (Para 2(iv)) .

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Ambiguity to Be Referred to RSPB

If any doubt arises regarding the recognition status of a federation at any point of time, Zonal Railways and PUs must refer the matter to the Railway Sports Promotion Board, which will in turn seek clarification from MoYAS before further action (Para 2)

View RBE Letter: