Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Prime Minister's Office have denied a newspaper report that President A P J Abdul Kalam was unhappy with some names on this year's national honours list.
Likely honorees are usually suggested by members of Parliament, state governments and reputed organisations. These names are forwarded to a three-member committee at the Union home ministry, which finalises the list of honorees after they have been cleared by the Intelligence Bureau.
The list is then forwarded to the President for his approval while a copy is sent to the Prime Minister's Office.
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However, Ashok Tandon, the prime minister's media adviser, denied that the PMO had done anything of the kind.
"A committee headed by the Union home secretary clears the list after obtaining the necessary IB clearance. If some names were dropped even before they came before the committee, it does not necessarily mean they were included without IB clearance. Union Home Secretary N Gopalaswamy perused the list before forwarding it to Rashtrapati Bhavan," he told rediff.com
S M Khan, the President's press secretary,told rediff.com, "The names are screened by the Union home ministry and then by the Prime Minister's Office before being forwarded to Rashtrapati Bhavan. All those honoured this year were cleared by the Intelligence Bureau."
