Mohan Babu On Verge Of Losing Padma Shri: Brahmi In Safe Zone

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday to submit a report to the President within four weeks about the abuse of the Padma Shri award by Telugu movie actor and producer Mohan Babu. First time in the country, a court has asked for withdrawal of Padma Shri. Meanwhile, the court has given some time to Brahmanandam to convince that it was a mistake from the production house in affixing the title in the credits.

BJP leader Indrasena Reddy had filed a public interest litigation at the High Court alleging that both Mohan Babu and Brahmanandam were misusing the honorary titles by prefixing it to their names in the credits of the film Denikaina Ready. On January 28, 2014, he filed an additional affidavit submitting that Mohan Babu's name is prefixed with ‘Padma Shri' in Telugu film Jhummandi Naadam.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar directed Mohan Babu to file a counter in a week's time. On Tuesday, the bench found that the actor deliberately misused the award and his action was contrary to the judgement of the Supreme Court in this regard. It urged the President to take a decision within four weeks. The exercise should be done in accordance with the guidelines framed and issued by the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Brahmanandam's counsel had informed the court that he had sent letters to producers to remove the prefix. However, the court spared him since he could successfully convince the court that it was a mistake from the production house in affixing the title in the credits. The court's decision has come as a big relief for the comedian.