chandigarh the punjab and haryana high court has made it clear that it is entirely within the domain of the state government to decide whether any sportsperson is to be released cash incentive on account of having scaled a particular mountain peak in this case a person was seeking rs 5 lakh incentive prescribed for those climbing mount everest for his achievement of scaling nepals annapurna peakjustice tejinder singh dhindsa of the hc has passed these orders while dismissing a petition filed by gaurav kumar a resident of sonipat districtthe petitioner had challenged the decision taken by the council of ministers haryana on may 2 2013 whereby it was decided to offer onetime cash award of rs 5 lakh to those who have successfully scaled mount everest since 2005 subject to the condition that they are not government employeeshave not been provided government job for such achievementmain contention of the petitioner was that the decision is discriminatory and against right to equality provided under the constitution and discriminates between mountaineers who otherwise form one homogeneous classpetitioner submitted that he has scaled mt annapurna nepal on april 21 2017 and but he has not been released the cash incentive amount of rs 5 lakhas opposed to the mount everest scaling mt annapurna would carry a higher risk factor as the death rate while ascending mt annapurna has been quantified to be 41 as opposed to 285 for mount everest there would be no basis for haryana not to release to the petitioner an equivalent cash award of rs 5 lakh if not more for having scaled mt annapurna counsel for the petitioner had arguedit was also asserted by the petitioner that a mountaineer like him having scaled such a difficult peak ought also to be considered for appointment to a public postdismissing the petition the hc observed such matters would fall within the domain of policy decision making at the hands of the competent authority as to whether any sportsperson of haryana is to be released a cash incentive award on account of having scaled a particular peak and thereby to tax the public exchequer would be for the state government to examine there is no vested right in the petitioner to seek cash award in view of his having scaled a particular summit