The Madhya Pradesh High Court has put a temporary halt on the presentation of the 2023 Vikram Award for adventure sports to mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya after another climber, Megha Parmar, challenged the selection.
A single-judge bench of Justice Vishal Mishra passed the interim order, allowed amendments to Parmar’s petition, and listed the matter for the next hearing on January 5.
Parmar, who hails from Sehore, has argued that she reached the summit of Mount Everest on May 22, 2019, nearly five hours before Dehariya. While she has not objected to Dehariya’s selection, Parmar contends that her earlier ascent entitles her to equal consideration for the prestigious state sports award.
According to her plea, Parmar reached the summit at 5 am, whereas Dehariya summited at 9:45 am the same day.
The petition also points to past departures from the one-athlete-per-year rule. Parmar noted that in 2022, mountaineers Bhagwan Singh and Ratnesh Pandey were both granted recognition despite achieving their Everest ascents an hour apart in 2016. This, she argued, sets a precedent for relaxing the criteria and considering more than one athlete in exceptional circumstances.
Senior advocate Vivek Krishna Tankha, appearing for Parmar via video conferencing, submitted that the petitioner is a legitimate contender and urged that the award should not be conferred until her claim is adjudicated.
After hearing the submissions, the court restrained the authorities from conducting the award ceremony, observing: “Till the next date of hearing, the respondent authorities are directed not to hold the ceremony for the grant of the Vikram Award 2023.”
The interim stay will remain in place until the High Court takes a final call on Parmar’s challenge.
