Chennai:
Madras High Court has dismissed the writ appeal of under
secretary of Union Home Ministry which challenged the single judge order to grant
freedom fighter pension to the widow of a freedom fighter from the date of
application.
Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar and Justice M
Sathyanarayanan in their order dismissed the contention that that the sanction
of "Swatantra Sainik Samman Pension" can be ordered to the freedom
fighters from the date of application only, if there is clear proof and not in
doubtful cases.
They ordered the appellant Union Home Ministry to
implement the order of the Single Judge within a period of three months from
the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
Citing principles
spelt out to ensure that no genuine freedom fighter was denied pension under
the Scheme, the judges said the criterion for pension under the Scheme is not
age, but participation in freedom struggle.
The freedom fighters' pension can, therefore, in exceptional cases, be
granted even to those who were minors at the time of struggle, if evidence
clearly showed that they had participated in the freedom struggle and fulfilled
the requirements of the Scheme.
The judges also quoted an earlier judgement which stated that the
approach of the authorities implementing the Scheme should not be
obstructionist or technical while examining the applications and documents
produced, but be practical having regard to the fact that most of the
applications are by old persons with no proper records
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