Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday sought response from the Mohan Yadav government on a petition filed by mountaineer Madhusudan Patidar against the selection of fellow mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya for the Vikram Award, the state's highest sports award since 1972.
Patidar summited Mount Everest in 2017, while Deharia conquered the highest peak in 2019. Patidar has challenged Dehariya's selection for the award on the basis of seniority.
On a writ appeal filed by Patidar, High Court Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf issued notices to the state government, the Director of the Sports and Youth Welfare Department as well as Dehariya, seeking their responses.
The court has fixed February 6 for the next hearing of the case.
A single bench of the High Court had dismissed Patidar's writ petition on December 8 last year, stating the state government had committed no error in conferring the 2023 Vikram Award in the adventure sports category on Dehariya.
Challenging this decision, Patidar filed a writ appeal in a division bench of the High Court. In this petition, Patidar has requested the court to stop the state government from conferring Vikram Award on Dehariya as interim relief.
Patidar argued that, based on his seniority in the field of mountaineering, he should be awarded the 2023 Vikram Award in the adventure sports category. The process used to select Dehariya for the award was "flawed" as his seniority and achievements were "arbitrarily and discriminatorily" ignored, Patidar claimed in his plea.
According to the Madhya Pradesh Awards Rules 2021, athletes who have consistently participated in adventure sports activities for the past five years and have achieved success with outstanding performance are eligible to apply for the award.
On this basis, a single bench of the High Court dismissed Patidar's writ petition on December 8, stating that Patidar, who had conquered Everest eight years ago, was ineligible for the Vikram Award in 2023. Therefore, the state government's decision to reject his claim was correct, the HC had said.
In the writ appeal filed against this order, Patidar said the MP government neither issued a notification for the 2022 Vikram Award in the adventure sports category nor awarded this award to anyone, and therefore, he is entitled to the 2023 Vikram Award, which carries a cash prize of two lakh rupees and a memento.
Those honoured with this award are declared outstanding athletes and are also appointed to government service. PTI
