Administration recommends two for Padma awards

Chandigarh : The UT Administration has recommended a serving PGI professor and a retired Panjab University professor for the prestigious Padma awards to be announced this month. According to UT officials, the administration had received four names, of which, two names have been selected after approval from UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil. They have been forwarded to the concerned ministry in New Delhi.

According to sources, the names of Dr D Behera, a professor in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), and Dr S V Kesar, a retired professor from the Department of Chemistry, Panjab University, have been recommended for the coveted awards, which will be announced on January 25.

While Dr D Behera, who has also served as Director of LRS institute of Tuberculosis, New Delhi on deputation, had nominated himself for the awards, Dr S V Kesar’s name was nominated by the vice-chancellor of PU Dr Arun Grover.

Dr D Behera who specialises in lung cancer, had also a filed a petition in the Delhi CAT against the selection of the present

director. The two, whose names have been rejected, are Yogesh Kumar and Dr Jagdish Jaggi, a homeopathy physician.