Gallantry Award to Ex-Cop: Will Come Up with Positive Solution by Aug 7, Centre Tells SC

The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it will come up with a "positive solution" by August 7 on the issue concerning the conferring of the prestigious President's Gallantry Award on a former police officer who shot dead two dacoits during an operation in 2003.

On July 20, the apex court had 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.

The top court, which was hearing an application filed by Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan, had then given the Centre time till July 29 to comply with the high court's order.

On Wednesday, the application came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta urged the bench to list the matter on August 7.

"I am working on it and some solution will be found," the top law officer said.

The counsel appearing for Chouhan told the bench that gallantry awards are declared and awarded on August 14-15 every year and the matter may not be adjourned beyond August 7.

The bench noted that in its July 20 order, it had made clear that no further time would be granted.

"Today, the Solicitor General has made a request that the matter could be adjourned for August 7 and by the said date, he will come up with a positive solution of the problem," the bench said, while posting the matter for August 7.

On July 20, Mehta had informed the top court that the government has filed a review petition against the March 25 order of the apex court affirming the direction of the high court.

The bench had questioned why the government was not complying with the order while pursuing the review.

Chouhan's lawyer had submitted that his client was waiting for justice for 23 years.

The home secretary has approached the top court against the high court 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.

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 Police 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 (GM) 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 observing that the President's Gallantry Medal is a higher distinction, while the Gallantry Medal is awarded to numerous personnel simultaneously.