MP: HC stays holding Vikram Award ceremony till disposal of plea filed by mountaineer Megha Parmar

Jabalpur, Dec 11 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has granted an interim stay on the awarding of the Vikram Award for adventure sports to mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya for the year 2023 till it takes a decision on a petition filed by another climber, Megha Parmar.

A single-judge bench of Justice Vishal Mishra granted the stay, allowed necessary amendments in the petition and scheduled the next hearing for January 5.

The petition filed by Parmar, a resident of Sehore, has pointed out that the Madhya Pradesh government has announced the Vikram Award for adventure sports for 2023.

Dehariya, a resident of Chhindwara, has been selected for the award.

The petitioner has said she has no objection to Dehariya's selection but she had hoisted the tricolour on Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, before her on May 22, 2019.

Parmar has claimed that she hoisted the tricolour before Dehariya, with almost a five-hour gap between the two. The petitioner has claimed that she reached the summit at 5 am, while Dehariya achieved the feat at 9:45 am.

Since the petitioner scaled Mount Everest before Dehariya, she too is entitled to the Vikram Award, the plea says.

During the previous hearing, the petitioner had argued that the rules for the 2022 Vikram Award selection process were relaxed and the names of two male athletes from the state -- mountaineers Bhagwan Singh and Ratnesh Pandey -- were approved. There was a gap of an hour between them in achieving the target of scaling Mount Everest in 2016.

"This is a precedent for changing the rule to award only one athlete per year. This is the last opportunity for petitioner Megha to receive the Vikram Award, as per the nomination process," the plea has said.

Parmar's counsel, senior advocate Vivek Krishna Tankha, argued via video-conferencing that the petitioner is a legitimate candidate for the award, which should not be given to anyone else until the final resolution of the petition.

Following the arguments, the court said, "Till the next date of hearing, the respondent authorities are directed not to hold the ceremony for the grant of the Vikram Award 2023." PTI COR MAS RC