Mumbai: Veteran Bollywood actress Sridevi was accorded full state honour under the instructions of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, an RTI query has revealed.
An RTI activist, Anil Galgali, had filed an RTI seeking details of full state honours granted for the cremation of the Bollywood actress and also who has the powers of granting. The RTI was filed under the RTI Act 2005 from the Protocol department of the Maharashtra Government.
In a reply, the Protocol department informed that the granting of the full state honours for cremation is under the powers of the Chief Minister, who also heads the General Administration Department, under which the Protocol department comes.
It was also clarified that the power to grant full state honours for cremation of any person is under the discretionary powers of the Chief Minister and is not dependent on being a Padma Shri awardee.
"A verbal order in regards to the state honours provided to noted actress late Amma Yangar Ayyappan alias Sridevi was received from the Chief Minister's Office on February, 25, and the same was conveyed to the Mumbai Suburban Collector and the Mumbai Police Commissioner by a Government order, dated February 26, 2018, to do the needful," the RTI reply read.
Sridevi's funeral with state honours has raised many brows. Few days back, even Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, criticised the Maharashtra government for according state funeral to the actress.
Sridevi passed away on late night on February 24 in Dubai, where she went to attend a family wedding.
The cremation ceremony took place at Vile Parle's Seva Samaj Crematorium and Hindu Cemetery on February 28, in Mumbai with full state honours.
