Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court has dismissed a petition seeking to restrain the central, Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttarakhand governments from announcing monetary awards for members of the Indian team which won the just-concluded cricket World Cup.

The apex court bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia, Justice K.S. Panickar Radhakrishnan and Justice Swatanter Kumar Friday told petitioner’s senior counsel Vikas Singh that the plea could be moved only after serving notice to the state governments which had announced various awards having financial implications.

Singh appeared for the Chandigarh-based petitioner organisation All India Forum for National Reconciliation. The court granted the petitioner the liberty to move the court again if circumstances so warranted later.

The writ of mandamus sought by the petitioner is an extraordinary writ commanding an official to perform a ministerial act that the law recognises as an absolute duty and not a matter for the official’s discretion. It is used only when all other judicial remedies fail.

“In the present petition, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, since the petitioners have sought writ in the nature of mandamus, the discipline of that writ demands that notice be given to the concerned state(s) asking for explanation. This step has not been taken by the petitioners,” the court order said.

“The petitioners agree to comply with that discipline. In the circumstances, this petition is allowed to be withdrawn and, if the circumstances so warrant, the petitioners may approach this court at a later date,” the order said.

The petition said that the Delhi government announced an award of Rs.2 crore for cricket captain M.S. Dhoni. An award of Rs.1 crore was announced for Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Ashish Nehra hailing from Delhi.

The Punjab government announced Rs.1 crore each for Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh and the Maharashtra government decided to give Rs.1 crore each to Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan.

The petitioner said that the Uttarakhand government announced giving plots and houses to the cricket team members.

Singh told the court that the awards and gifts so announced were made from public exchequer and the states, as custodian of these public funds, could use them only for public utilities.