Madras High Court Restrains Grant Of Award In M S Subbulakshmi's Name To Musician TM Krishna

The Madras High Court has restrained The Hindu from presenting the 'Sangita Kalanidhi Award' in the name of M S Subbulakshmi to musician T M Krishna.

The Court said that the Sangita Kalanidhi Award and cash prize can be granted to TM Krishna but not in the name of M S Subbulakshmi. 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. While dismissing an application filed by the Music Academy challenging the suit moved by the grandson, the court also noted that Shrinivasan, Subbulakshmi's grandson had the locus to maintain the suit since he was a beneficiary of Subbulakshmi's will.

"The best way to honour a departed soul is to honour and respect her wish and not to disrespect her. If any person is really having reverence and regard to MS Subbulakshmi, after knowing her desire and mandate, should not continue to give award in her name," the court remarked on Tuesday.

The Sangita Kalanidhi MS Subbulakshmi Award was instituted by The Hindu group to honor the Late singer as a yearly accolade and was conferred on the “Sangita Kalanidhi' chosen by The Music Academy every year. This year, the two awards were conferred to TM Krishna in recognition of his musical excellence sustained throughout his long career.

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. He alleged that Krishna has constantly trivialized the late singer's achievements by making it seem as though it was a reward for embracing “Brahmanism”.  

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.

Meanwhile, the Music Academy had also filed an application to reject the suit claiming that Shrinivasan had no locus to challenge the conferment of the award.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 447

Case Title: Music Academy v V Shrinivasan and Others

Case No: A 5746 of 2024