Illinois: Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameswar has been conferred with a rare honour at an event in Illinois (America) for his landmark judgements in several case of national importance.

The mayor of Naperville city in the state of Illinois has declared October 14 as 'Justice Jasti Chelameswar Day'. Justice Chelameswar is a judge of the Supreme Court of India. He was formerly the Chief Justice of the High Court of Kerala and Gauhati High Court. One of his prominent judgements pertains to the striking down of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act that paved the way for freedom of expression in social media. Also, the judge has done critical analysis of the Collegium system which appoints chief justices in the Indian courts. He was also instrumental in striking down of a law which made Aadhar card mandatory to avail government services stating that the law is discriminatory against those who did not possess the Aadhar card.

Speaking on the occasion, Justice Chelameswar highlighted the greateness of Indian judiciary and several critical and important cases that were addressed.

Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad with the Pual Harris Fellowship

Padma Bhushan awardee and noted litterateur Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad was bestowed with the Sahitya Bharathi title by the Chicago-based Bharathi Theertha organisation at a event in Illinois recently. Justice Jasti Chelameswar was the chief guest at the event where Bharathi Theertha founder Dr. Thatha Prakasham presented the award to Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad.

Also on the occasion, the Rotary Club of Naperville city honoured Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad with the "Paul Harris Fellowship" for his contribution to Hindi and Telugu literature through his PhDs in both the languages and also through his 64 books that he authored in the two languages.

Chicago Telugu Sangham, Greater Chicago Telugu Sangham, America Telugu Sangham and North America Telugu Association (TANA) and representatives of other organisations participated in the programme.