Till Monday afternoon, ace mountaineer and chairman of the Arjuna Awards selection committee Major H P S Ahluwalia had not received an invitation for the awards ceremony, to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday at 11.30 a.m.

President A P J Abdul Kalam will present the country's highest sports awards for the year 2003.

Long jumper Anju Bobby George will receive the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, which carries a purse of Rs 500,000.

Officials in the Sports Ministry claimed they could not trace the address of the hospital Major Ahluwalia runs, to treat spinal cord injuries, at Vasant Kunj in New Delhi and hence the invitation could not be delivered to him. Rediff.com investigations however reveal that the address provided to the courier company itself was wrong.

Several sports journalists and media persons too have not received an invitation to the function. Scribes were told that the invites would be sent to their respective offices by courier. "The cards were sent on Friday last," claimed an officer in the sports ministry.

It seems the finance ministry too is bent upon playing spoilsport. It has not approved the customary dinner given to sports persons by the Minister of Sports.

It is learnt that the finance ministry rejected the proposal twice on grounds of austerity measures.

Sports minister Sunil Dutt is upset and has directed his staff to persuade the finance ministry to relent.

Even if the sanction does come at the eleventh hour, sports ministry officials will have to work overtime to get the invitations printed and sent out by tomorrow afternoon.

"We may have to give the invitations at the Ashoka Hall itself," said a senior sports ministry official.