New Delhi, Aug 08: On a petition seeking conferment
of "Bharat Ratna" on leading freedom fighters - Madan Mohan
Malaviya and Sir Syed Ahmed, the Supreme Court today asked the
Union government as to whether it was following the guidelines
laid down by it for selection of awardees for conferment of
the highest civilian award.
A bench comprising Chief Justice V N Khare, Justice S B
Sinha and Justice Ashok Bhan requested Attorney General Soli J
Sorabjee to find out and inform the court within four weeks
whether the guidelines laid down by the apex court in the
"Balaji case" on the conferment of "Bharat Ratna" on eminent
personalities was being followed by the government or not.
The order was passed by the court on a special leave
petition filed by one Rakesh Srivastava "Nyayik".
Chief Justice Khare observed that the court had directed
constitution of a high-powered committee for the selection of
personalities for conferment of the award and said that the
allegation was that the guidelines were not being followed.
However, Sorabjee stated that the high-powered committee,
which is broad-based to include people from many walks of life
and added that it was not being run by bureaucrats alone.
Bureau Report
