Widow of soldier killed in 1965 gets liberalised family pension

Relief after 54 years

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– Sepoy Netar Pal was killed in a mine explosion in an operational area just after the 1965 Indo-Pak War

– His widow, Angoori Devi, was refused liberalised family pension on the pretext that her husband’s death was not included in the concept of “Battle Casualty” as per the policy applicable on the date when the soldier had died

– Liberalised family pension, equivalent to the last drawn pay at the time of death, is given to the next of kin of those killed in operational areas and is higher than regular pension

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has directed the Central government to grant liberalised family pension to Angoori Devi whose husband Sepoy Netar Pal was killed in a mine explosion in an operational area just after the 1965 Indo-Pak War.

Earlier, Angoori Devi was refused liberalised family pension on the pretext that her husband’s death was not included in the concept of “Battle Casualty” as per the policy applicable on the date when the soldier had died. Liberalised family pension, equivalent to the last drawn pay at the time of death, is given to the next of kin of those killed in operational areas and is higher than regular pension.

The Tribunal’s Chandigarh Bench, however, relied upon a government policy of the year 1972 which grants liberalised pension to such causalities with retrospective effect from 1947. The Tribunal has also observed that another policy applicable from 1996 also covers such cases and the cut-off date of January 1, 1996 in the said policy had already been struck down by the Supreme Court.

The Chandigarh Bench of the AFT has become non-functional on the retirement of judicial member Justice Mohammad Tahir who retired on December 5. Almost all benches of the AFT in the country currently remain paralysed with only two judicial members available out of the total sanctioned strength of 17.

Another judicial member, Justice Sunita Gupta of the principal Bench, is also due for retirement later this month. This will leave the tribunal with only one judicial member, that is, the recently appointed Chairperson of the AFT, Justice Rajendra Menon, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. The Central government had recently advertised vacancies for the appointment of members to the AFT.

A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court had recently passed a detailed judgment on the issue of tribunalisation in a bunch of matters, including one filed by Delhi-based lawyer Kudrat Sandhu and the Punjab and Haryana High Court lawyer Navdeep Singh, wherein directions were passed to make all tribunals more independent with longer tenures for members and making justice accessible and affordable by abrogating direct appeals to the Supreme Court directly from tribunals.