'Not Interested In Any Awards': Karnataka High Court Dismisses Plea For Declaring Judges Eligible For Padma/ State Awards

A division bench of Justice Awasthi and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum orally said,

"Giving of such awards is against the Constitution. You (petitioner) could not get a better issue to raise for the benefit of judges? We are not interested in getting awards. We are only interested in working. We don't want any awards. We are totally against the awards."

The petition filed by Dr. Vinod Kulkarni had also prayed to reserve one award of Karnataka Rajyotsava Award (to be conferred on November 1) for the sitting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court or the next senior-most judge.

Kulkarni in his petition has claimed that honouring judges with national and state awards will certainly boost their morale and such honour is bound to accentuate their performance. It may lead to fast and speedy disposal of cases in the High Courts and Supreme Court.

Further, it was claimed that "Conferring of such awards on government doctors and not on sitting judges of the top courts, infringes upon the doctrine of basic structure of the constitution because both medical and legal professions are regarded as noble professions."

The plea also claimed that making judges of the Supreme court and High Court to lead an isolated, secluded, asocial life is against 'Indianisation of Judiciary', a concept envisaged by the Chief Justice of India, N V Ramana.

The court in its order said "The petitioner appearing in person has not been able to satisfy the court as to why any indulgence be granted for the relief claimed. The award such as Padma awards or state awards are given at the discretion of the Central or State government and no person has any right to claim that he shall be given such awards. The petition being devoid of merits is dismissed."

Case Title: Dr Vinod G Kulkarni v. Union Of India

Case No: WP 19426/2021