India, Aug. 21 -- The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that approval has been granted for conferring the prestigious President's Medal for Gallantry on a former police officer who shot dead two dacoits during an operation in 2003. The apex court had in July expressed its displeasure over the Centre's non-compliance with a Madhya Pradesh High Court direction to confer the award on former police officer Vivek Singh Chouhan. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta that a decision has been taken and the President has approved the President's Medal for Gallantry to Chouhan. "The Solicitor General has placed before the court a communication dated August 20, 2026 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs whereby approval has been granted for the President's Medal for Gallantry which would be duly notified in the Gazette of India in the due course," the bench noted. Also Read - Toying with youths' future unacceptable: Tejashwi extends RJD support to Patna's student protesters Advertisement Mehta read out the relevant part of the communication which stated that the proposal was examined by the ministry as per guidelines and thereafter, the President has approved the President's Medal for Gallantry to Chouhan for June 24, 2003 action and the award will be notified in the Gazette of India shortly. The top court was hearing an application filed by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan. On Friday, the bench said that in view of the development, the application does not require any further consideration. The counsel appearing for Chouhan told the apex court that contempt proceedings pending before the high court would be duly withdrawn. The home secretary had approached the apex court against the high court's order that held the secretary prima facie guilty of contempt for failing to comply with its direction to confer the President's Gallantry Medal on the police officer. Also Read - 26/11 attacks: Cops seek MHA help to serve order against Hafiz Saeed, 5 others for trial in absentia The contempt action arose from the Centre's alleged failure to comply with the high court's December 9, 2024, direction asking the government to confer the gallantry award on Chouhan within a month. Chouhan, who was the station house officer of the Ghatigaon police station in Gwalior district in 2003, had led an operation against dacoits after receiving intelligence about their presence in a village. Two dacoits were killed in the encounter, during which Chouhan himself was also injured. Following a magisterial inquiry that gave him a clean chit, recommendations were made for his out-of-turn promotion and conferring the President's Medal for Gallantry on him. After years of litigation, the High Court in 2018 directed the state to forward his name to the Centre for the award. The Madhya Pradesh government recommended his name in 2019, but the Ministry of Home Affairs rejected the claim later that year, which led to another round of litigation from the high court to the apex court and contempt action by the High Court. During the contempt proceedings, the Centre had submitted a compliance report stating that the President had approved the Gallantry Medal award for Chouhan. The high court had termed the decision "insufficient", saying the Gallantry Medal and the President's Gallantry Medal are distinct honours and observed that the President's Gallantry Medal is a higher distinction, while the Gallantry Medal is awarded to numerous personnel simultaneously.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.