Mumbai, Dec 24: The Bombay High Court has reiterated that civilian awards such as the Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan and the Bharat Ratna cannot be used as prefixes or suffixes to the names of awardees, while taking exception to the manner in which a party was described in a case title.
Exception taken to cause title in writ petition
Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan made the observation while dealing with a writ petition involving a 2014 Padma Shri awardee, Dr Sharad M. Hardikar. The court noted that the cause title described him as “Padma Shree Dr Sharad M. Hardikar”, which, the judge said, was impermissible in law.
Reference to Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruling
“Purely as an incidental point, taking cognisance of the manner in which one of the parties has been named in the title in these proceedings, it is the duty of this Court to draw attention to a five-judge Constitution Bench decision of the Supreme Court delivered way back in 1995,” Justice Somasekhar observed. He recalled that the apex court had categorically held that civilian awards such as Padma Shri and Bharat Ratna “are not titles and ought not to be used as prefix or suffix to names of the awardees”.
Strict compliance mandatory under Article 141
Emphasising the binding nature of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the judge said strict compliance was mandatory under Article 141 of the Constitution.
“I need say nothing more than to direct that the parties shall ensure that they comply with the law declared by the Supreme Court in the conduct of proceedings, and the courts too ensure that this is complied with,” the order stated.
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Observation made during hearing of trust dispute
The observations were made while hearing a writ petition filed by Dr Trimbak Dapkekar, who had challenged an order passed by a Joint Charity Commissioner in connection with a dispute relating to a meeting of a public trust.
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