<P> In August 2013, the selection committee headed by Michael Ferreira recommended sport shooter Ronjan Sodhi for the award, with some committee members questioning the process of selection . A committee member noted that discus thrower Krishna Poonia, and Paralympic athlete H.N. Girisha were shortlisted and Sodhi was not the initial choice . However, Girisha's name was removed, and the final voting was done between Sodhi and Poonia . Poonia was accused of lobbying for the award by one of the committee member Anjali Bhagwat, but the accused met the then Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh to promote her case and also rubbished the lobbying allegations . The Ministry conducted a separate enquiry by Secretary of Department of Sports and decided not to increase the number of awards "to maintain the stature of the awards". </P> <P> Following an announcement, in August 2015, that tennis player Sania Mirza was to be awarded, a Public - Interest Litigation was filed in the Karnataka High Court . The petitioner, Paralympic athlete H.N. Girisha, mentioned that his performance was ignored by the committee . Girisha claimed to be a top contender for the award with 90 points, owing to his silver medal winning act at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the Men's High Jump F42 event . The petition mentioned that the points for Mirza's Grand Slam titles from 2011 until 2015 should not be counted as the events were not a part of the list of sports events to be considered for the performance evaluation . The court withheld the conferment and sought replies from the Ministry about the selection process . The Ministry nevertheless presented the award to Mirza on 29 August 2015 amidst the case processing . </P> <Ol> <Li> Jump up ^ The cash prize was revised from ₹ 1 lakh (US $1,600) to ₹ 3 lakh (US $4,700) in 2000, to ₹ 5 lakh (US $7,800) in 2002, and to ₹ 7.5 lakh (US $12,000) in 2009 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ For cricket, there is no National Sports Federation recognised by the Government . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ A World Championship / World Cup is generally organised every four years . For different cyclicities, proportionate marks are given . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ The award for the performance in 2008 is being referred to as award for 2009 . </Li> <Li> Jump up ^ Mirza has won 2012 French Open--Mixed Doubles with Mahesh Bhupathi, 2014 US Open--Mixed Doubles with Bruno Soares, and 2015 US Open--Women's Doubles and 2015 Wimbledon Championships--Women's Doubles with Martina Hingis . </Li> </Ol> <Li> Jump up ^ The cash prize was revised from ₹ 1 lakh (US $1,600) to ₹ 3 lakh (US $4,700) in 2000, to ₹ 5 lakh (US $7,800) in 2002, and to ₹ 7.5 lakh (US $12,000) in 2009 . </Li>

Who headed committee for rajiv gandhi khel ratna award 2017