Jaggi Vasudev receives the Padma Vibhushan award in 2017 from then President of India Pranab Mukherjee. File photo
| Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena
The Madras High Court on Thursday (November 7, 2024) dismissed a writ petition filed in 2017, seeking a direction to the Centre to consider a plea to revoke the Padma Vibhushan award conferred on Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on the grounds that his Isha Foundation was facing multiple charges and court cases.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice K.R. Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the orders after hearing the arguments advanced by M. Radhakrishnan, counsel for the writ petitioner M. Vetriselvan, and Additional Solicitor General (ASG) AR.L. Sundaresan.
The Bench said that it was satisfied with the adherence to the norms for the conferment of the award and therefore, not inclined to issue the direction as sought for by the petitioner.
Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel had told the court that Padma Vibhushan was one of the highest civilian honours in the country conferred on personalities for their exceptional and distinguished service, and that the names of the recipients were announced every year on the eve of Republic Day.
The Prime Minister constitutes a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary and comprising the Union Home Secretary, secretary to the President, and a few other eminent individuals in order to scrutinise the nominations and to make appropriate recommendations. It is only after the recommendations get approved by the Prime Minister and the President, by giving due consideration to the inputs received from the central intelligence agencies with respect to the individuals under consideration, that the awards get announced, the counsel said.
He claimed that the Centre had failed to note that Mr. Vasudev was “not a law abiding citizen” and that there were cases pending in the High Court regarding the construction of unauthorised buildings at his Isha Yoga Centre situated on the Velliangiri foothills in Coimbatore district. Pointing out that even recently, the foundation was embroiled in a controversy due to a habeas corpus petition filed by the father of two women volunteers, alleging that they had been “brainwashed,” Mr. Radhakrishnan said, the matter went up to the Supreme Court before it was closed.
“He (Mr. Vasudev) did not have a clean record at the time of consideration of his name for Padma Vibhushan. He is continuing such activities even now. Such a person can never be awarded Padma Vibhushan. Even the prestige of the country is at stake because of such conferment,” he argued.
On his part, the ASG told the court that the Centre had not received any adverse inputs from the intelligence agencies before the conferment of the award and therefore, it was conferred on the recipient on April 13, 2017, by the then President Pranab Mukherjee.
Published – November 07, 2024 05:17 pm IST