Har$hita surrenders Miss India Earth crownRohit Khilnani / CNN-IBN
Published on Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 02:42, Updated at Sat, Apr 12, 2008 in Entertainment section
Mumbai: Har$hita Saxena is no longer the new Femina Miss India Earth all because her contract with Gladrags overlapped with that of the Miss India pageant by three days.
In a press statement Har$hita said: "I apologise to the officials of Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2008 and voluntarily surrender the title of Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth 2008. It was an oversight on my part"
Just days after the new Miss India winners were announced, President Gladrags Beauty Pageants, Maureen Wadia claimed that the newly crowned Miss India Earth was still on contract with the Gladrags, which bars her from taking part in any other beauty pageant.
According to sources, though Har$hita's contract with Gladrags started on March 13 2006 and was valid for two years, there was a clause which said that the contract would commence on the day of the event being staged -- which was April 8 2006.
Hence technically her contract with Gladrags expired on April 8 2008 -- three days after the Miss India pageant.
Maureen Wadia says, "I feel sorry. It shouldn't have come to this stage. However, I feel it's extremely important that we honour the law and we live by the law."
Har$hita's crown has now been passed on to Tanvi Vyas of Vadodra, who becomes the new Miss India Earth.
Oversight or just plain bad luck, it's a lesson learnt. Har$hita was quick to advise other models and beauty pageant participants to double check their contracts to avoid such unpleasant controversies.
(With inputs from Vrushali Haldipur and Mihir Trivedi)http://www.ibnlive.com/news/har$hita-surrenders-miss-india-earth-crown/63141-8.html