Plea to annul Padma award to chancellor of varsity

HYDERABAD:A division bench of the High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the central and Telangana governments, and Dr Shantaram Balawant Majumdar, chancellor of Symbiosis International University, Pune, to respond to a PIL which alleged misuse of national award Padma Bhushan conferred on the latter.

The bench, comprising acting chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice K Vijaya Lakshmi, was dealing with the PIL filed by Y Sridhar, advocate, alleging that Majumdar was misusing the award by prefixing it to his name, and seeking directions to the Centre to annul the award given to Majumdar.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that as per the Supreme Court’s order, if any person, who was awarded Padma Bhushan or other national award, prefixed it to his name, then he would forfeit such award. In the present case, the home ministry responded to the complaint made by issuing a notice to Majumdar. In reply, he admitted to violating the guidelines and tendered an apology.

Mere apology was not sufficient when violation took place and there was a need to recommend to the President annulment of the said award, he added. The Symbiosis International University has its centre at Mamidipally in Kothuru mandal in Mahbubnagar district. The petitioner named the TS government as one of the respondents.The bench issued notices to the respondents for filing counter affidavits, and adjourned the case by four weeks.