22 yrs after denying pension to freedom fighter, Centre to give it to his widow

CHANDIGARH: About 22 years after a Patiala freedom fighter was denied central pension, the Punjab and Haryana high court has ordered the central government to award it to his widow.

Freedom fighter Darshan Singh, who had moved the high court in 2014, died when the petition was pending. His wife, Jagdish Kaur, was accepted as petitioner.

The man had approached the central government in 1993 for pension under Swatantrata Sainik Samman Scheme, 1980, enclosing his affidavit with certificates of co-prisoners Balwant Singh and Gurmukh Singh, since their imprisonment record of the Lahore jail in 1942 and 1943 was unavailable.

Since this was secondary evidence, the central government rejected the claim in 1994. The Punjab government, based on an inquiry by the Patiala deputy commissioner, granted him pension from 1998. In 2014, the man slapped legal notice on the central government and, later, filed a petition seeking pension with arrears since 1993.

Initially, the central government had argued that it was not bound by the recommendation of the state and could assess the genuineness of the case independently, since in many cases, fake certificates were issued. After the claimant died, it argued that pension could not be granted to any legal heir or nominee already receiving `20,000 a month. Jagdish Kaur proved she was getting only `15,793 a month.

The high court stated that there was no dispute that Darshan Singh was getting freedom fighter pension from Punjab on the basis of the certificates. Hence, it was held that he was entitled to freedom fighter’s pension, but it would be from the date of the high court order. HTC