

The Madras High Court Friday dismissed a petition seeking direction to the Centre to award Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour in country, for late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The court said it cannot give any such directions to the government.
The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sundar rejected the PIL filed by K K Ramesh, Managing Trustee of Tamil Nadu Centre for Public Interest Litigation. The petitioner said Jayalalithaa had bagged several film awards as an actress and as a five-time chief minister launched several welfare schemes, including Amma canteens, in the state.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Pannerselvam had on December 19 last year urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to confer Bharat Ratna on Jayalalithaa. Earlier, in its first meeting held on December 10 after the demise of Jayalalithaa, the Tamil Nadu cabinet had passed a resolution to recommend to the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna on Jayalalithaa. It also moved a resolution to request the Central government to install a bronze statue inside the Parliament campus, among others.
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Jayalalithaa died on December 5 after suffering a cardiac arrest.
(With PTI inputs)
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