'Died While Serving Nation': Punjab & Haryana High Court Grants Full Pension To Widow Of Soldier Who Died In 1965 War Despite 54-Yr Delay

The Punjab & Haryana High Court granted benefit of full pension to widow of a soldier who died in 1965 War on the western front due to a mine-blast.

The Court set aside the order of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) to the extent whereby, the arrears were restricted to three years prior to the date of filing of the application on account of delay of 54 years.

Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma said, "on the demise of the soldier concerned, thus an indefeasible right became conferred upon his surviving family members, to, in terms of the policy (2001), thus seek endowment of the benefits thereof. However, only on account of their being a delay in the makings of the apposite espousals by the surviving widow of the deceased soldier, who irrefutably died while serving the nation, that there has been denial to her vis-a-vis the benefits envisaged vide policy."

The Court explained that the policy issued by the Central Government in 2001 conferred "indefeasible right" on the deceased soldier's widow and the cause of action is recurring and continuous in nature, hence the delay will not have any impact on claiming the benefit.

The plea was filed by war widow Anguri Devi, for setting aside the relevant part of the order  passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal, whereby, the arrears of Liberalised Family Pension have been restricted to three years from the date of filing of the Application.

Anguri Devi was granted Special Family Pension by the Army. In 1972, the Government introduced a fresh policy with retrospective effect covering all operations from 1947 onwards for grant of a higher amount of pension called the “Liberalized Family Pension” with financial effect and arrears from 01-02-1972. When the policy was issued, the husband of the Petitioner had already died in 1965, but the benefit of the policy was not given to the petitioner-Aguri Devi.

In 2001, the Central Government issued another policy with effect from 01-01-1996 granting enhanced death and disability benefits in operational deaths including deaths/disability due to mine blasts, leading to grant of “Liberalized Family Pension” but the said policy contained a cut-off date and was made applicable only to cases of death/disability occurring after 01-01-1996 though in case of civilian casualties, it was made applicable both to pre and post-1996 cases.

The cut-off date of 01-01-1996 was read-down later by the Supreme Court in KJS Buttar vs Union of India wherein it was held that pre-1996 cases were also to be granted the same benefits with arrears from 01-01-1996.

Anguri Devi filed a plea before the AFT, it granted her relief citing a similar case decided by the tribunal earlier, but restricted the arrears to three years prior to filing of the petition stating that she had approached the Court with a delay of 54 years.

The Petitioner challenged the restriction of arrears on two grounds. Firstly, that it was the duty of the authorities to release her pension themselves and the apex court had made it clear that such benefits would be granted from 01-01-1996, and secondly, there was no such restriction imposed in the earlier case which the AFT had relied upon to grant her relief, which was also based on the judgment of the Supreme Court in KJS Buttar's case.

Considering the submissions, the Court allowed the plea in terms of  the policy dated 31-01-2001.

The division bench opined that, "even if there is some delay on the part of the widow of the deceased soldier to make the instant espousal, yet the said delay was not required to be incapacitating the present petitioner to become a valid recipient of a recurring and continuous right, as otherwise became conferred upon her through policy."

In the light of the above, the Court directed the authorities to calculate and release the arrears of the Liberalized Family Pension thereof, to the petitioner alongwith interest @ 8 % per annum within a period of two months from the date of receipt of copy.

Mr. Navdeep Singh, Advocate with Ms. Roopan Atwal, Advocate and Ms. Srishti Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner.

Ms. Anil Chawla, Senior Panel Counsel for the respondent – UOI.

Title: ANGURI DEVI v. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS

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