HC says that no real freedom fighter should be deprived of pension

Noting that the nation’s collective debt to its freedom fighters can never be repaid, the Madras High Court on Thursday said that every effort should be made to ensure that any genuine freedom fighters paid for them a meager pension. Do not be deprived of this even if this process goes ahead to some hypocrites benefiting from the loans shown by the government in giving such pensions.

Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamurthy on March 10, 2020, Justice M. Rejecting the appeal preferred by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs against an order passed by Govindaraj, directing the Center to pay the Independent Sainik Samman Pension to NV Vadivelu. Quit India Movement and was jailed in Karnataka for nearly seven months.

The judges said that it is very possible that some suspected applicants could get freedom fighters’ pension based on false claims. At the same time, it was also possible that some genuine freedom fighters be denied the right to documentation. Therefore, it would be prudent to err in favor of a liberal view and allow genuine claimants to receive benefits.

Further, assessing that the freedom fighters’ pension scheme could only be outdated in 10 years, as many of them would not live to claim or receive benefits, the Division Bench said: “What is the Indian economy now?” , Moreover in this context, it may be able to make a mistake and pay some pretenders so that the actual freedom fighters are not left out. “