Thiruvananthapuram, July 25 : Amid a row as various sections of people, including from the film industry, writing to the Kerala government that Mohanlal should not be invited as the Chief Guest to the annual state film awards, an invite was extended to him Wednesday and he has accepted it.
State Culture and Cinemas Minister A.K. Balan, on behalf of the Kerala government, officially extended the invite and that was accepted by the superstar, said sources in the know of the things.
The awards will be given away on August 8 at a function here.
Balan and the state government got into high gear after half a dozen film centric organisations that matter in the Malayalam film industry expressed their ire that the superstar is being drawn into a needless controversy.
Mohanlal, who last month took over as President of film body Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA), first came under fire from the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC) for revoking the suspension of accused actor Dileep's membership of the grouping. Dileep is an accused in the 2017 kidnapping of an actress.
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Udupi: A delegation of the High Court Bench Struggle Committee met and submitted a petition to the Karnataka High Court Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru at the Circuit House urging the opening of a High Court Bench in the coastal belt as well as a Mobile High Court Bench in Mangaluru.
MLC and convener of the Committee Ivan D’Souza, who spoke to the Chief Justice on the occasion, explained that the people of the coastal belt find it difficult to travel to Bengaluru to fight a petition in the High Court. The problem only aggravated during monsoon. D’Souza added that there was a delay in clearing the cases of Udupi, Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts, which was causing further inconvenience to the people.
The MLC, who pointed out that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had also shown his preference for establishing a High Court Bench in the coastal region, requested for an approval to establish a Mobile High Court Bench first.
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Responding to this request, Chief Justice Bakhru assured to take action on the request as soon as possible.
The delegation included Mangalore Bar Association President Raghavendra HV, Dakshina Kannada Principal Government Pleader MP Noronha, General Secretary Sridhar H, Udupi Bar Association President Reynold Praveen Kumar, General Secretary Chandrashekhar Shetty, Vice-president Devadas V Shettigar and Brahmavar Bar Association President Kadoor Praveen Shetty.
