Hyderabad High Court to Centre: Clear stand on Padma Bhushan Awardee

Hyderabad: Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to spell out its stand on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the Centre for not taking any action in recommending the President of India to cancel or annul the Padma Bhushan awarded to S. B. Majumdar, founder and president of Symbiosis Society and Chancellor of Symbiosis International University.

A bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganthan and Justice K. Vijaya Lakshmi, was dealing with the PIL filed by Y. Sridhar, an advocate from Ranga Reddy district saying Majumdar misused the award by prefixing the title before his name in the advertisements of the varsity. He submitted that the SC, while interpreting Article 18(1) of the Constitution, held that the National Award does not amount to ‘titles’ and they should not be used as suffix or prefix.

Sridhar told the court that the Apex Court had ruled that if any one uses the National Award title with name, he/she should forfeit the National Award conferred on him or her. While issuing a notice, the Bench directed the respondents to file their counter affidavits within four weeks.