HC Dismisses Plea Challenging 2022 Kerala State Film Awards Declaration

The Kerala High Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Malayalam Cine Director Lijeesh Mullezhath challenging the Kerala State Film Awards for the year 2022.

The awards were declared by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy on July 21, 2023.

A single bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan termed the plea ‘frivolous’ and dismissed it, stating that the pleadings lacked evidence to substantiate the allegations of nepotism and bias made by the film director.

Lijeesh MJ, the director of the Malayalam movie ‘Aakaashathinu Thazhe’, had submitted his film for consideration under the feature films category for the State Film Award 2022. He alleged that his film did not receive any award due to nepotism and bias on the part of the jury.

The petitioner argued that the Chalachitra Academy’s decision to overlook his film violated his right to equality as guaranteed under Article 14 of the Constitution. He further requested the Court to direct the State government and the Kerala State Police Chief to initiate an inquiry and take action against film director Ranjith Balakrishnan, the current chairperson of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy.

The petitioner also pointed out that after the announcement of the Awards on July 21, another Malayalam Movie Director, Vinayan of ‘Pathonpatham Nottaandu’, raised allegations. Vinayan claimed to possess evidence, including voice recordings of Jury Members of the State Awards, indicating that the Chairman had improperly intervened in the Award selection process, resulting in biased and nepotistic outcomes.

Consequently, the petitioner approached the High Court seeking to annul the 2022 awards.