HC seeks response from UP government on Yash Bharti awards

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Friday took a grim view of the state-level Yash Bharti awards given to 46 persons and sought the Uttar Pradesh government's response on the issue.

Hearing a petition filed by Indian Police Service officer Amitabh Thakur, a bench of Justice A.P. Sahi and Justice A.R. Masudi asked the government to state under which financial head the award money was given and other expenses paid.

The award comprises Rs.11 lakh, a shawl and a certificate for contribution by the recipient in the fields of art, culture, medicine, literature and sports.

The court also sought to know the criteria and the process adopted for the selection of awardees.

It also asked whether the awards were in conformity with the constitutional provisions about abolition of titles.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav conferred the awards on 46 eminent personalities from different fields at the Ram Manohar Lohia Law University on March 21.

Thakur said in his petition that the way 22 names were chosen surreptitiously, 12 more added twice at the last moment, and the fact that Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan's wife Surabhi Ranjan too was one of the recipients clearly showed that the awards were given arbitrarily.

He prayed for the cancelling of the awards already conferred and selection of recipients through a fair and transparent procedure.