Avadh Kaushik vs Govt. Of Nct Of Delhi & Anr
2017 Latest Caselaw 7185 Del

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*IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

+              W.P.(C) 4514/2015 and CM No.8179/2015

%                             Date of decision : 12th December, 2017

       AVADH KAUSHIK                           ..... Petitioner
                   Through :            Petitioner in person.

                           versus

       GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHI & ANR ..... Respondents
                     Through : Mr. Bhagvan Swarup Shukla,
                               CGSC with Mr. Kamaldeep,
                               Adv. for UOI.
                               Mr. Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv.
                               with Ms. Supriya Juneja, Mr.
                               Aditya Singla and Ms. Drishti
                               Harpalani, Advs. for R-2.
                               Mr. Sanjoy Ghose, ASC for
                               GNCTD with Mr. Rhishabh
                               Jetley and Ms. Urvi Mohan,
                               Advs. for GNCTD.
                               Inspt. Khalid Akhtar with SI
                               Suneel Sidhu, PS Parliament
                               Street, New Delhi.
       CORAM:
       HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE
       HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C.HARI SHANKAR

                      JUDGMENT (ORAL)

GITA MITTAL, ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE

1. This writ petition was filed by the petitioner, who is a practicing advocate of this court complaining against Cabinet Decision No.2143 of the GNCTD dated 28th April, 2016 declaring deceased Gajendra

Singh Kalyanwat, who allegedly committed suicide in a political rally at Jantar Mantar, Delhi on 22nd April, 2015, as a martyr. It is also prayed by the writ petitioner that no scheme to compensate farmers be launched in or after the name of the deceased farmer by the Government of NCT of Delhi.

2. In para 10 of the counter affidavit, which has been filed by the respondent no.2 - Delhi Police, it has been disclosed that with regard to the death of Shri Gajender Singh, FIR No.95/15 was registered under Section 186/306/34 IPC on 22nd April, 2015 at Police Station Parliament Street in which investigation was underway by the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police.

3. So far as the Government of NCT of Delhi/respondent no.1 is concerned, it is stated that it was in no way glorifying, justifying, praising, supporting or consecrating the act of the deceased but on the contrary has tried to highlight the plight of the farm-owners and farmers in India by erecting a memorial and raising awareness about the maladies as prevailing.

4. In support thereof, respondents have placed schemes of various State Governments to assist the farmers in difficulty which are prevalent in different states of the country. So far as scheme for giving benefits to the needy relatives of a deceased person is concerned, the same is completely in the realm of a policy decision of the government.

5. Mr. Sanjoy Ghose, ld. ASC for the GNCTD, on this aspect, has placed reliance on the order of this Court being WP(C)No.6666/2015 Abhishek Choudhary & Anr. vs. Union of India & Ors. and the

judicial pronouncement reported at 2014 SCC On Line Guj 300 Jignesh Dhirendrabhai Goswami vs. State of Gujarat & Ors. in support of his objection to the maintainability of the writ petition on this ground.

6. So far as labelling of the deceased person as martyr is concerned, Mr. Avadh Kaushik, Advocate, who appears as the petitioner in person has placed reliance on the observations made in the order dated 18th October, 2016 passed in W.P.(C)No. 6666/2015 Abhishek Choudhary's & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. which was filed seeking the orders on the respondents to treat the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces at par with Army, Navy and Air Forces personnel by conferring on deceased members of the Central Armed Police Forces, the status of 'martyrs' or 'shaheed' and granting them the same privileges, financial benefits and compensation.

7. The petitioner is unable to however place before this court any legal definition of the expression 'martyr'. On the contrary, the following observation of the court in para 9 of the judicial order are this fact and reads thus : -

"9. Persons who lay down their lives for the cause of the country, be they Armed Forces personnel or personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces are socially perceived as martyrs and / or shaheeds. However, as pointed out by the learned Additional Solicitor General, there is no discrimination since there is no official conferment of the status of martyrs either to personnel of the Armed Forces or to personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces. Furthermore, representations in this regard have been considered by the Committee of Secretaries in 2011 and rejected on the ground of absence of any discrimination in this regard, since martyr and/or

'shaheed' has not been defined anywhere in any statute, rule or regulation. There is no notification, order, rule or regulation for declaration of deceased armed forces personnel as shaheeds / martyrs. The writ petition is thus misconceived and orders as prayed for in the writ petition cannot be passed."

(Emphasis supplied)

8. As it is apparent from the above, WP(C)No.6666/2015 was held to be misconceived and was dismissed. The very same observation applies to the present writ petition also.

9. This writ petition is clearly devoid of legal merit and is hereby dismissed.

CM No.8179/2015

In view of the dismissal of the writ petition, this application does not survive for adjudication and is hereby disposed of.

ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE

C.HARI SHANKAR, J DECEMBER 12, 2017 mk