Madhya Pradesh High Court has admitted a petition seeking to strip Sachin Tendulkar’s Bharat Ratna, awarded to the cricketer in February this year.
According to news agency PTI, a high court bench comprising Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice K K Trivedi on Thursday issued a directive to Assistant Solicitor General to find out if there are any Supreme Court guidelines (do’s and dont’s) for Bharat Ratna awardees and get back to it in a week’s time.
The petitioner V K Naswah, a resident of Bhopal, argued that the cricketer was using the fame of the honour in “earning money by endorsing commercial products.”
Sachin, who retired from all forms of cricket in November last year, currently endorses more than a dozen brands including Aviva Life Insurance, Boost (malt-based nutrition drink), MRF, Luminous and realtor Amit Enterprises.
Naswah has argued that Tendulkar should return the highest civilian award conferred on him as he was exploiting the ‘fame’ of this honour to promote commercial products and earn money. He said this was against the dignity, legacy and tenets of this award.
The petitioner said that the cricketer return the award voluntarily failing which the central government must intervene and take the honour back.