Supreme Court chides govt for denying pension to wife of soldier who died on LoC

Supreme Court chides govt for denying pension to wife of soldier who died on LoC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesofindia.com 04.12.2024

New Delhi : A soldier, who was part of ‘Operation Rakshak’ and deployed near LoC in Jammu and Kashmir lost his life in extreme climactic conditions, while discharging his duty in the wee hours of a chilly January morning in 2013 but his widow was denied Liberalised Family Pension (LFP) despite getting order in her favour from armed forces tribunal in 2019 as the Centre moved Supreme Court and the litigation went on for five more years. 

Rejecting the plea of the Centre and defence ministry and ordering them to grant her LFP, apex court on Tuesday took strong exception of the govt for not taking a sympathetic view and dragging the widow in court for protracted legal proceedings to deny her rightful and imposed a cost of ₹50,000 to be given to her. LPF is given in case of death of an armed forces personnel under certain circumstances and eligible family is entitled to pension equal to reckonable emoluments last drawn.

 The govt denied LFP on the ground that it was a case of ‘physical casualty’ and not ‘battle casualty’ where LPF is granted to the family. After examining all the records and rules, a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said the govt had wrongly denied her the pension as death happened as a result of war-like situations and it comes within the ambit of ‘Battle Casualties’. “Thus, the death can be attributed to illness caused by extreme climatic conditions. Hence, as per clause 1 (g) of Appendix ‘A’ of the Army Order 1 of 2003, the case will fall in ‘Battle Casualties’. The reason is that the deceased was operating near LoC in extreme cli matic conditions. He was part of Operation Rakshak and was on duty near LC. The casualty caused by illness due to climatic conditions is covered by clause 1 (g). In this case, the respondent’s husband was a victim of illness caused by extreme climatic conditions. Therefore, the case of the deceased will fall in the category of ‘Battle Casualties’, the bench said.. “In our view, the respondent ought not to have been dragged to this Court, and the decisionmaking authority of the appellants ought to have been sympathetic to the widow of a deceased soldier who died in harness.

Therefore, we propose to impose costs quantified as ₹50,000/-, which will be payable to the respondent,”. the bench said.

 87-year-old widow wins 58-year battle for pension dues Chandigarh:

Anguri Devi’s husband Nater Pal Singh of Rajput Regiment died in a landmine explosion on the western front during the 1965 war with Pakistan. Her battle for a long-overdue recognition of her husband’s sacrifice began soon after — and continued for 58 years, reports Ajay Sura. Though initially granted a special family pension, she was excluded from subsequent policy benefits, including the liberalised allowance introduced in 1972 and a 2001 amendment enhancing financial support for families of operational casualties. Restrictive cut-off dates and administrative lapses compounded her struggle. After nearly six decades of perseverance, the 87- year-old war widow finally received her rightful pension benefits — thanks to a landmark decision by the Punjab and Haryana high court. HC judgment, made available Monday, marks a bittersweet victory for Anguri Devi and serves as a powerful reminder of systemic delays in implementing policies meant to honour India’s war heroes and their families.