Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing For Plea Against Conferring MS Subbulakshmi Award To TM Krishna

The Supreme Court today (December 13) refused to urgently hear today itself a plea challenging the Madras High Court order which has allowed the conferment of the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award to musician TM Krishna The Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award was instituted by the Hindu group to honour the Late singer and Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi as a yearly accolade and was conferred on the “Sangita Kalanidhi' chosen by the Music Academy every year. This year, musician TM Krishna was chosen to receive the award.Soon after the judgment was pronounced by the Madras High Court, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) N Venkataraman (appearing for Subbulakshm's grandson) made an oral mention in the Supreme Court, before a bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, requesting an urgent hearing since the award is to be given on Sunday.ASG contended that musician TM Krishna has written articles allegedly maligning Subbulakshmi."This is an extraordinary matter, judgement delivered just 2 mins back ....MS Subhalakshmi late classical singer awarded Bharat Ratna, an award is instituted in her name and to be given day after tomorrow in a music academy, 100 yrs old institution, to a person that has written articles that she is a sexist.""The judgement is pronounced two minutes ago ...ceremony starts on Sunday.." ASG said.The CJI however reverted saying that the matter would be heard on Monday. When the ASG said that the matter would become infructuous by then, CJI replied that the award could be taken back if the Court ultimately finds any merit in the present challenge."Thi is not like any building is coming down... list on Monday. They can always take it back (the award)...you can recall the award if required," CJI said.The ASG was referring to the most recent decision of the division bench of Justice SS Sunthar and Justice P Dhanabal the Madras High Court delivered today which set aside a single bench order restraining The Hindu from presenting the Award in the name of MS Subbulakshmi to Krishna.The single bench of Justice G Jayachandran passed the interim order in a suit filed by the grandson of M S Subbulakshmi saying that the conferment of the award was against her wish and mandate. The single bench clarified that the Sangita Kalanidhi Award and cash prize can be granted to TM Krishna but not in the name of M S Subbulakshmi.Why Was TM Krishna's Nomination Challenged Before The High Court? V Shrinivasan, Subbulakshmi's grandson had approached the Madras High Court challenging this conferment. Shrinivasan contended that Krishna has been making vile, vituperative, and scandalous attacks on Subbulakshmi on social media and has been maligning the reputation of the late singer.Shrinivasan thus argued that conferring the award on Krishna, who had questioned the credibility of the late singer in the world of Carnatic music, should not be legally permitted as it would amount to conferring a Bhakti prize on an atheist. He stated that awards and recognitions instituted in the name of a person ought to be conferred on persons who share common values.Shrinivasan further stated that the late singer had executed her last will and testament on October 30, 1997, in which she had specified that no trust, foundation, a memorial of any kind should be made in her name and memory or any funds/donations be collected for any of the above purposes. Thus, he stated that the award was against the mandate of the late singer, in whose honour, the memorial award was being presented annually.

Supreme Court Refuses Urgent Hearing For Plea Against Conferring MS Subbulakshmi Award To TM Krishna

Anmol Kaur Bawa

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