Madhya Pradesh High Court: In a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India by Megha Parmar a mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest, seeking writ of mandamus directing the respondent authorities to confer upon her the Vikram Award for the year 2023, a single-judge bench of Amit Seth, J., admitted the petition and granted the State two weeks to file a reply.
In the instant matter, an interim prayer was also made for issuance of an ad-interim writ for inclusion of Megha Parmar’s name in the Vikram Award List of the said year. She relied upon various provisions of the Puraskar Niyam, 2021, particularly Rule 9(2)(iii), and asserted that the selection for the Vikram Award must be based on priority, i.e., “who has mounted earlier.” It was submitted that Megha Parmar had completed the relevant mountain expedition at an earlier point of time than the selected candidate and was, therefore, entitled to priority under the prescribed rules.
However, the State submitted that Megha Parmar’s candidature had been duly considered by a properly constituted committee. However, Kumari Bhavna Dehariya had been selected for the Vikram Award 2023. It was pointed out that neither the selection of Bhavna Dehariya has been challenged before the Court, nor is she impleaded as a party respondent. The State sought time to file a reply in the matter.
The Court noted that the State sought time to file a reply in the matter, and Megha Parmar also sought liberty to submit a representation to the State. The Court held that “it is open for the petitioner to represent her claim before the respondent No.1 raising all grounds and it shall be open for the respondent No.1 to consider the same in accordance with law.”
The Court granted the State two weeks to file a reply and directed that the matter is to be listed immediately thereafter.
[Megha Parmar v. State of M.P., WP No. 20216 of 2025, Decided on 09-06-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Shri Vivek Tankha, Senior Advocate with Shri Atul Kumar Jain, Counsel for the Petitioner
Shri Swapnil Ganguli, Additional Advocate General, Counsel for the Respondent/State
Buy Constitution of India HERE
