‘Sahitya Akademi award not subject to judicial review’

Jury member defends prize for English translation of Madhorubagan

Githa Hariharan.

Sahitya Akademi jury member Githa Hariharan, who had recommended Tamil novel Madhorubagan ’s English translation One Part Woman for translation prize 2016, has filed a counter-affidavit in the Madras High Court contending that issues within the purview of litterateurs could not be subjected to judicial review. She asserted that it was not open to any court of law to scrutinise either the recommendations or the consequent decision by the Akademi.

Ms. Hariharan also said that it was “mischievous” on the part of Kongu Kalvi Valarchi Arakattalai, which she described to be a “caste association,” to have made the jury members also respondents to a writ petition filed by it with a plea to forbear Sahitya Akademi from awarding the prize to translator Aniruddhan Vasudevan.

The jury was not answerable to anyone for having taken a decision to recommend a particular name for the prize, she added.

Writ petitions such as the present one do not advance any public interest, and instead, they pose a danger to the practice of the arts as well as the diversity of opinion and critical thinking guaranteed under the Constitution, Ms. Hariharan, a winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 1993 for her first novel

The Thousand Faces of Night, said. She pointed out that the other members of the jury were noted scholars K. Satchidanandan and A.R. Venkatachalapathy.

Well scrutinised

The Sahitya Akademi prepared a short list from the books entered for the award and sent the list to the jury members.

Each member was not aware of who the other jury members were till they met for the final decision. When the jury members met, they had read all the shortlisted books carefully and prepared notes on the merits of each translation. All shortlisted books were discussed and a consensus was reached on recommending One Part Woman.

Denying the petitioner trust’s claim that it was not a “true” translation of the Tamil novel penned by Perumal Murugan, she said, “One of the criteria of eligibility for the award is that the book must be a faithful translation. Fidelity cannot always be judged by individual words and must be seen in the overall context. The translator undertakes a labour of love when he or she chooses to share a work with a wider readership.

“The translation was chosen for the award in good faith, and for valid reasons, free from any sort of bias.”