Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis ordered Sridevi's state funeral, RTI reply

An RTI query on Friday has revealed that the controversial state funeral of legendary Bollywood actress Sridevi was under the instructions of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

RTI activist Anil Galgali asked the General Administration Department’s Protocol Department on who had the power to authorise the state funeral for Sridevi and other previous receivers of it.

In the reply, the department stated that the full powers to grant a funeral with state honours was with Chief Minister.

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"With regards to the full state honours for the late Amma Yangar Ayyappan, known as the famed actress Sridevi, verbal ordered were received from the CMO on February 25, 2018 and conveyed to the Mumbai Suburban District Collector and Mumbai Police Commissioner the following day to do the needful," Galgali said, quoting the RTI reply.

The activist said he filed the RTI query to clear the confusion on who has the authorisation to grant a state funeral.

"Among the speculation was that state funeral can be accorded to a person who is conferred with a National award or a Padma honour, but now a new information has come to light that it actually falls within the CM's discretion," Galgali said.

Sridevi, who died due to accidental drowning on February 24 was honoured with state funeral, leading to country-wide debates.

40 other eminent personalities besides Sridevi were given a full state funeral between June 22, 2012 to March 26, 2018 , as per RTI reply.