The Mysuru district administration has withdrawn the district-level Rajyotsava award given under social service category to M.K. Ashok, a resident of Seetha Vilas road in Mysuru, after receiving information from the city police about criminal cases booked against him.
Mr. Ashok from the Janani Seva Trust of Seetha Vilas Road in the city was among the 50 persons honoured with the district-level Rajyotsava award at a function held at Oval Grounds in the city on November 1.
Minister in charge of Mysuru district H.C. Mahadevappa bestowed the award to the recipients in the presence of elected representatives from Mysuru and senior officials of the district administration.
However, a statement issued by the Assistant Director of Department of Kannada and Culture, Mysuru, M.D. Sudarshan, who is also the member secretary of the Felicitation Sub-Committee, on Wednesday, said the award given to Mr. Ashok had been withdrawn by the Mysuru district administration with immediate effect.
The district administration honours 50 persons from the district for their contribution to the society in various fields on the occasion of Rajyotsava every year. This year too, the Rajyotsava award sub-committee of Mysuru, at its meeting held on October 30, finalised a list of 50 persons for the award.
Though a report was sought from the police about the criminal antecedents, if any, of the persons chosen for the award, the administration, due to paucity of time, went ahead and gave away the awards the next day on November 1, Mr. Sudarshan said in a statement here on Wednesday.
The city police have now informed the Department of Kannada and Culture that the recipient M.K. Ashok is facing criminal charges in Lashkar police station and Devaraja police station in Mysuru.
In view of the criminal cases registered against him, Mr. Ashok becomes ineligible for the district-level Rajyotsava award, Mr. Sudarshan said before stating that the district administration had decided to withdraw the award.
Meanwhile, the decision to strip Mr. Ashok of the district-level Rajyotsava award comes in the wake of a case registered against his son by Devaraja police after he allegedly assaulted a shop owner on Sunday. The criminal antecedents of his father too came to light after his son was booked by the police on Sunday.
Sources in the Congress party said Mr. Ashok as well as his son were only party workers and did not hold any elected post in the party’s organisational units. “As his father was a party worker, the son was also coming to the party events”. But, Mr. Ashok had been chosen for the award after he submitted photographs of the social service programmes he had organised under the Janani Seva Trust he had floated, sources in the party added.
