Widow of soldier killed in 1984 riots gets justice

CHANDIGARH: Three decades after her husband Naib Subedar Surjit Singh was killed by a mob during the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, the armed forces tribunal (AFT) has granted full pension benefits to her.

Surjit Singh was killed aboard a train and subsequently Kaur was granted pension at that time.

The 5th pay commission, however, recommended liberalised family pension (enhanced grant) for widows of central government employees killed in mob violence. Accordingly, the department of pensions and pensioners’ welfare (DoPPW) granted liberalised benefits in cases where deaths occurred after January 1996 —the effective date for the fifth pay commission recommendations. Similar benefits were also implemented by the ministry of defence (MoD) for post-1996 cases of armed forces.

On September 11, 2001, vide a

THE ARMED FORCES TRIBUNAL HAS GRANTED FULL PENSION BENEFITS TO HER

fresh direction, the DoPPW extended the same benefits to pre-1996 cases too.

It also sent a communication to the MoD for implementing the orders with respect to pre-1996 armed forces cases but the orders were never issued by the MoD.

Liberalised family pension was refused to Gurmel Kaur on the same pretext of being a pre1996 death case.

The Chandigarh bench of the AFT comprising Justice Bansi Lal Bhat and Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra has now held that the widow could not be deprived of the benefits based on a cut-off date.

The bench has based its decision on law settled by the SC in a number of cases.