More than 80 years after “participating” in the Quit India Movement, the fight of the fighter for freedom Gurcharan Singh, of 99 years, for the pension Swatantrata Sainik Samman may end soon. Judge Vinod S Bhardwaj has made it clear that the state of Punjab will pay the pension benefits provided in the plan of the Government of India in case it could not locate the file and the relevant documents and the Center would refuse to make the payment. lack of documents.
Gurcharan Singh had filed a demand before the superior tribunal after the Ministry of Interior had reconsidered his pension case, alleging that he had suffered more than eight months of imprisonment in the prisons of the continent for participating in the Quit India Movement.
Judge Bhardwaj observed that the petitioner presented the application under the ‘Samman’ plan on 30 May 1988, along with the complete details and certificates of the two co-prisoners, which were duly verified by the magistrate and the commissioner of the Patiala district. Satisfied, he referred the petitioner’s case to the state government, thereby freeing up pension benefits in his favor.
Judge Bhardwaj observed that the response of the Union of India indicated that the petitioner’s case had been reconsidered on an earlier occasion “only because the recommendation had not been made by the Committee of Punjab”, which the superior tribunal considered incompetent to examine. cases of prisoners imprisoned in prisons on the continent. The order passed in February 1991 stipulated that the petitioner would not have attached documents related to his incarceration.
The deficiencies observed subsequently by the Subdivisional Magistrate of Rajpura and those that led to the founding of the Union of India were not mentioned in the previous order of review. Judge Bhardwaj added that the petitioner had duly submitted the required documents along with his request dated 30 May 1988 to the state government and the same was duly verified. No one could ask to renew those documents, especially when the people who issued the certificates had passed away. Once the reception of documents and proposals was not questioned or denied, it would not be possible to allow those requested to reopen those aspects or closed ones.
Judge Bhardwaj ordered the state to trace his file related to the request of May 1998, along with the verification of the Commissioner Adjutant of Patiala, within six weeks, at which time it was made clear that the documents/registers complete with all the details would be sent to the Government of India for the necessary processing. … in case it was tracked.
“From then on, the Union of India will take a decision based on the soundness of the documents and the conditions of eligibility prescribed in the plan. If no defect or deficiency is observed in the documents provided on May 30, 1988, the pension benefits required will be released from the date of application/structure of the plan within the following eight weeks…”, added the judge Bhardwaj.
