HC reserves order on PIL challenging Bharat Ratna to Sachin Tendulkar

Lucknow: Allahabad High Court on Monday reserved its decision on a petition challenging the awarding of Bharat Ratna to cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. After hearing the PIL filed by IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and social activist Nutan Thakur, the Lucknow bench comprising Justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and DK Upadhyay reserved the order.

The plea said Bharat Ratna being the country`s highest civilian honour, must be given after utmost scrutiny. Terming cricket as a "tamasha" (theatrics) which was taking the nation backwards, they claimed that conferring Sachin with the award is bound to give a message of "inaction and laxity". They demanded that the award be given to other world-class sportsmen like Vishwanathan Anand, Milkha Singh or Geet Sethi, who gave better results in much more competitive sports than cricket. Challenging the current method of awarding Bharat Ratna where the Prime Minister solely recommends names, they said it was completely against the concept of transparency and inclusiveness. They sought setting up of a committee for these awards which would bestow Bharat Ratna to all truly great Indians including Ashoka, Akbar, Kalidas, Kabeer, Kamban.