L-G rejects govt’s decision to pay compensation to ex-soldier's kin

NEW DELHI: Lieutenantgovernor Anil Baijal has rejected the AAP government's decision to pay Rs 1-crore compensation to the family of ex-serviceman Ram Kishen Grewal who had committed suicide over the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue last year.

Sources said that LG Baijal rejected the decision of the Delhi Cabinet which had also granted martyr status to Grewal. Last year, the army veteran had committed suicide in the national Capital demanding immediate implementation of OROP. "The Lieutenant-governor has turned down the proposal sent by the Delhi Cabinet for his approval, saying it is not in line with compensation policy to provide ex-gratia to servicemen," sources said. In his note to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Baijal said that as mentioned in the Cabinet decision, Grewal had consumed poison on November 1, 2016, during a protest for the implementation of OROP.

"This specific case does not fall within the parameters of the scheme for grant of ex-gratia payment i.e death occurring in the discharge of official duty. "Therefore, while I fully sympathise with the family of Subedar (Retd) Late Ram Kishen Grewal, I'm not able to agree to the proposal for payment of exgratia relief in this case," L-G Baijal said in the note. He said the position was also explained to the Chief Minister during his meeting with him earlier this month. This is the first proposal of the Delhi government shot down by L-G Baijal after he cleared a slew of files that were stuck with the LG office during Najeeb Jung's tenure. Sources said the proposal was turned down as Grewal was neither associated with any service with the Delhi government nor was he a resident of the Capital.

As per the existing scheme, ex-gratia payment is made in cases of defence, paramilitary forces, the Delhi Police, Home Guard, Civil Defence, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) personnel dying in the discharge of bonafide official duty. "They have to be either working with the government/delhi Police or have their permanent address recorded at the time of joining service as Delhi in case of defence/paramilitary personnel. The situations that qualify for ex-gratia payment are well defined in the scheme," the L-G noted.