Kochi, 02 July (H.S.): The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the cancellation of the Padma Bhushan conferred on SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Natesan, holding that the court could not interfere with the conferment of the civilian honour merely because criminal cases were pending against the awardee.

A Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice observed that the mere existence of criminal cases does not make a person guilty in the eyes of the law. The Bench noted that none of the cases against Vellappally Natesan had resulted in a conviction so far and that trials in those matters were yet to be completed. It also pointed out that proceedings in some of the cases had been stayed by the Supreme Court.

The court said that in the absence of a judicial finding of guilt, there was no legal basis to set aside the Padma Bhushan award. Consequently, it declined to interfere with the decision of the Union Government to confer the honour and dismissed the PIL.

At the same time, the High Court clarified that the legal framework governing Padma awards provides for the possibility of cancellation in appropriate circumstances. It observed that if an awardee is found guilty of an offence through due process of law in the future or if other legally valid grounds emerge, the President of India has the authority to cancel or revoke the honour in accordance with the applicable rules.

The petition had been filed by the Sree Narayana Dharma Prabodhana Samrakshana Samithi. The organisation contended that conferring the Padma Bhushan on a person facing multiple criminal cases was contrary to law and alleged that the Centre had failed to properly examine the pending cases before recommending the award. It had sought the quashing of the award and a direction restraining the authorities from proceeding with the conferment.

With the dismissal of the petition, the conferment of the Padma Bhushan on Vellappally Natesan remains undisturbed.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman