Chennai: Madras high court has said the Union government should undertake a survey, in collaboration with the state governments, to find out living freedom fighters and extend the fruits of the Freedom Fighters Pension Scheme, on its own.
A division bench comprising justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and T. Krishnavalli also came to the rescue of K. Duraisamy, a nonagenarian, who has been running from pillar to post for over 10 years to get his pension and directed the Union government to pay him the pension within four weeks.
The bench said, “Give me blood, I will give you freedom, said Subhash Chandra Bose during the freedom struggle. The path of freedom struggle is not embedded with roses, but thorns. But it could not stop the freedom fighters, as they were firm in their only one ambition Swaraj-Independent India, which they achieved in 1947.”
To honour such warriors, Freedom Fighters’ Pension Scheme was brought into effect, which was later called as the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme. According to Duraisamy, he strained every nerve of his for securing freedom for the country. However, the pension sought for by him under the scheme was rejected by the union government and on challenge the single judge set aside the said order. Challenging the same, the Union government filed the present appeal, the bench added.
The bench said the sheet anchor of the rejection order was that the co-prisoners were not eligible to issue the certificates, since they have undergone the imprisonment for less than one year. When the genuineness or otherwise of the said certificates were not doubted by the union government, it was not right in rejecting the request of the freedom fighter on flimsy grounds, as assigned in the order impugned before this court. The object of the certificate was for the purpose of affirming the imprisonment undergone by the applicant and the hyper-technical approach of the union government in rejecting the claim of the freedom fighter cannot be appreciated. On the other hand, the appellant should undertake a survey, in collaboration with the state governments, to find out the living freedom fighters, who were the torch-bearers of this nation, and extend the fruits of the scheme, on its own, at their doorsteps.
“It is painful to see that the authorities are making those selfless nationalists to undergo rigorous process of red-tapism, quoting some rules”, the bench added and dismissed the appeal filed by the Union government.
