Controversies
Controversies erupted in the year 2008 when president of Gladrags, Maureen Wadia, served a legal notice to the newly crowned Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth 2008, Harshita Saxena for violation of a two-year exclusive contract with Gladrags which had been signed by Harshita in 2006. To participate in any other beauty pageant, Harshita would have required a written letter of no-objection from Gladrags. Earlier in an interview with CNN-IBN Maureen Wadia said, "Harshita Saxena from Goa is a Gladrags model. She was a part of my Megamodel Contract in April 2006. Her contract has not expired and Harshita has entered in some other contest before the contract has expired. The contract clearly said that they have to take my permission." Owing to this, Harshita had to give up the title and the crown passed on to Tanvi Vyas who represented India in the Miss Earth 2008 paegent held in November 2008. Harshita was later placed fourth in Miss India 2009 and represented India in Miss International 2009.
Starting in 2010, Femina Miss India relinquished the franchise to send a representative to the Miss Universe pageant. Tantra Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. (TEPL) in collaboration with 1994 Miss Universe Sushmita Sen have started a new pageant called I Am She – Miss Universe India. The winner of this pageant will participate in the Miss Universe pageant.
In 1989, the winner Kalpana Pandit was found to have misrepresented her nationality (she was holding an American passport); she was stripped of her title and Dolly Mihas was declared winner.
In 2004 Lakshmi Pandit (sister of Kalpana Pandit) was initially declared as the winner but had to return the title as she was married (to Siddarth Mishra); Sayali Bhagat was ultimately declared as the winner. The Pandit sisters are from Mysore, Karnataka. They are M.B.B.S graduates who lost the title due to material misrepresentations.
Read more about this topic: Femina Miss India